Two Americans in London
by Oldmovie
Summary: Cuddy has finally decided to take a vacation hoping to unwind and forget a bit about her life at Princenton Plainsboro...but House has something planned that she will never be able to forget.
1. Chapter 1

Two Americans in London

Chp 1: Something different

It was a decision that even Cuddy was surprised she had made. She had got an email from an old colleague of hers telling her about a conference that was being held in London for Endocrinologists, he had suggested that she go. After first she was reluctant, stating that she was busy, running a hospital and all and wouldn't have the time to attend the conference. He had continued on, saying that every once and a while everyone needs a break, and that the hospital wouldn't come crashing down if she was gone for a few weeks. The decision was almost instantaneous, it wasn't her colleague persuasion that convinced her to go, it wasn't even the idea of London that made her want to go, it was the sight of Gregory House pushing open the door to her office that made the decision final.

She acted like she was listening to House's ravings about clinic duty and how all the patients were idiots, but her mind was really on other things. To be perfectly honest, she wasn't at all interested in going to this conference, it was just an excuse she would now use to leave. The real reason she decided to go away was to escape from all of this. Escape from the mountains of paperwork she faced every day. Escape from the snide comments made behind her back. Escape from certain people who tried to make her life miserable. Yes, as each minute Gregory House complained about his clinic duty, Cuddy became much surer she had made the right decision.

As soon as House had left her office, she got online, booked airplane tickets to London through British Airways, informed her latest secretary she would be going on vacation in a couple of weeks, and sat back and waited for the inevitable complaints that would soon accost her. But not even House's persistent jibes about the similarities between her ass and the millennium wheel could stop her from boarding the plane a few weeks later; and turning her cell phone conveniently off.

* * *

"This is Lisa Cuddy. I can't come to the phone right now, but please…" House snapped his cell phone shut as the familiar voice-mail echoed in his ears. Cuddy still wasn't picking up and after the ninth time trying to call her, he realized that she had no intention of picking up any time soon.

Wilson eyed House, "Still not picking up huh?"

House shook his head exasperated, "No, so that means we're stuck with that bitch that Cuddy put in charge, Dr. Gurstein." House said shuddering as her uttered the name.

"House, her name is Dr. Gurthur."

"I know, but if I say Dr. Gurstein she sounds more evil and therefore helps prove my point that she is a bitch."

"Why are all your arch-enemies given German last names…and the government says that Television doesn't manipulate the minds of children."

House made a face in reply, knocking a couple of files off of Wilson's desk with his cane.

"Heh, you know that only proves my point about you being a child," Wilson sneered as he bent down to pick up the files, "Oh and you know, just because someone makes you follow the rules and fill out some paper-work every now and again doesn't make that person a bitch." Wilson lectured.

"She doesn't let me do my job!" House exclaimed.

"How, because she makes you take the safe root and cover your ass?" Wilson asked.

"No, I do things the way I do them because they work. I don't run pointless tests on patients because I already know the answer before I run them, I need new information. That's how I solve the cases."

"Well is it so bad to double check every now and again, you know, in case you are wrong?" Wilson responded, he looked up and noticed a new patient of his standing in the doorway, patiently waiting for Wilson to notice her. Wilson indicated that House should leave, and in response House got up from the chair and left. He opened the door for the patient but couldn't help uttering before he left, "Now Wilson, be good with this one, don't screw her like you did with the last one."

He limped into his office, made his way over to his chair, plopped down into it and propped his cane up on the wall opposite him. He took his old, familiar tennis ball in his hands and began tossing it up in the air, trying to think about his situation. He had to reach Cuddy somehow; he couldn't stop thinking about it. It shocked him how much he was obsessing over her being gone, and it bothered him how much he cared about it. But suddenly the tennis ball was snatched from the air as it was coming back down and now lay in the hands of the frightening figure of Dr. Gurther.

"I came to remind you, Dr. House, that you haven't finished your clinic duty for this week. I have been lenient with you on this because I thought you had a case but since you have time to throw a ball around, I'm sure you have time for clinic duty. I presume you will be staying late?" She ordered more than asked.

House was not interested in a word the woman had said, instead he noticed that she was dressed in her coat and had her purse with her, she was intending on going home. Suddenly his problem of reaching Cuddy was solved, he had an idea. "Why Dr. Gurther, I would never dream of skipping out on clinic duty, I must have just forgotten. I have been feeling horrible about the way I have treated you this week, it must have been very hard to stand in for Dr. Cuddy in such short notice." House admitted, trying with all his might to sound sympathetic.

Dr. Gurther nodded her head slightly, she was wary but did not sense any danger and let him continue.

"Oh I see, you have your coat and things with you. I'll tell you what, you go home, read a book, relax in the tub and I'll take care of things tonight, ok?" House asked.

Anyone wiser to House would have immediately smelled trouble, but Dr. Gutner had only been there for a week and House could be quite charming when he wanted to be.

"Alright Dr. House, but I'll be expecting those clinic hours by tomorrow morning." House nodded meekly, and showed her out of his office, waving goodbye as she walked down the hallway. House gave her a few minutes head start before making his way to Cuddy's office.

* * *

Cuddy sank beneath the bubbles in her bathtub, uttering enjoying the caressing of the warm water against her skin. She hummed to herself. So far it had been a great week. Cuddy had decided not to go to the conference and just to enjoy the limited time she had away. She surfaced from the bubbles, dried her hands off, and picked up the book she had bought in the airport, "The Life and Times of King Henry VIII." She was planning on going to Hampton Court Palace tomorrow and wanted to be informed about its past owner. Just as she had gotten herself into a comfortable position to read the book, the phone beside the bathtub rang. Cuddy froze; she set the book back down, turned and eyed the phone. She had managed for the past week to stay un-contacted and was hoping to remain so for the time being. But the phone rang on insistently and Cuddy was forced to answer it.

"Many apologies for bothering you Ma'am, but a Dr. Gregory House has called for you, shall I put him through?" The voice of the receptionist asked. Cuddy's stomach tightened, of course it was him. It was always him. Realizing that House would keep calling until she finally accepted him, Cuddy decided to avoid the embarrassment now and told the receptionist to put House through.

"Ah, Dr. Cuddy I presume? It's jolly good to hear from you, I was getting so gosh darned worried about you." House's horrible imitation of a British accent grated upon Cuddy's ears.

"You called me genius, how did you even get a hold of me?" Cuddy inquired.

"I broke into your office, once your bloodhound Dr. Gurstein had left, hacked into your computer, discovered the London conference and then called the most expensive hotel in London."

"Do you have nothing better to do than stalk me? You know I could have you put in jail."

"Ah but you wouldn't, after all you perjured yourself to keep me out of…" House was saying when Cuddy interrupted him, "House is there a reason why you called, or are you just lonesome without me?"

"You need to come back," House replied swiftly.

"Well that's too dam bad, I'm enjoying myself." Cuddy pointed out.

"The woman you picked to put in charge is a total bitch, she won't let me do my job."

"Maybe it's good somebody is finally telling you no, I respect her, I wish I could." Cuddy was surprised how bitter the last part of her sentence came out. There was an awkward pause and then House responded, "Well Cuddy you leave me no choice."

"What do you mean by that?" Cuddy asked.

"I mean I'll have to use my secret weapon."

"House, House, what are you going to do?" Her voice rising when he didn't answer, "House!" she shouted into the phone and then heard the infuriating click and hum of the phone that signaled he had hung up. Suddenly the bath seemed very cold, she grabbed the robe that was lying on the side table and climbed out of the bath.


	2. Chapter 2

**Two Americans in London**

**Chp2: A close encounter of the House kind**

Cuddy was furious; it wasn't until the next day that she found out that the House had reversed the charges on his international call from the previous night. House managed to ruin everything. Here she was finally relaxing and forgetting about her problems at Princeton and House comes barging back into the picture and drags her back into reality. Cuddy sighed, sometimes she felt as though she was a doll to House, who he could play with and manipulate all he wanted. Sometimes it seemed as though he was this grand puppet master and all the world was his playground. Cuddy shook the thought from her head and promised herself she would not fall into House's trap. No matter what his "secret weapon" was, she wouldn't call the hospital; she wouldn't give him the satisfaction of knowing he had gotten to her. After all, Cuddy thought, ignorance is bliss.

* * *

House leant on his cane, standing on a balcony that overlooked the airport terminal; he was smugly munching on an apple, grinning at the genius of his plan. He looked up to the flight screens and noticed that his plane had been delayed by a few hours. He sighed and realized he needed to find someway to extinguish potential boredom. He scanned over the restaurants, coffee shops, clothing and book stores. Nothing held any interest for House until he spotted an arcade tucked away in the corner of the terminal. A child-like grin spread over House's face and in a few exceptionally quick moments, for someone using a cane, he found himself standing in front of the arcade. On passing through the entrance of the arcade he noticed some rather obnoxious boys playing on the Dance Dance Revolution Machine. They must have felt his stare and began to follow House as he searched for the first sit down shoot 'em up game he could find. After a while of tracing behind House one boy, obviously the leader of the group asked the question they were all dying to know.

"What's wrong with your leg," The boy questioned as his eyes fell upon the cane.

"What's wrong with your rhythm, you sucked." House retorted indicating with his head towards the DDR machine.

"Like you could do any better."

"Try me."

The boy stood back, a little shocked at such a response, but he puffed out his chest like all "tough" boys do and pointed out, "You've got a cane,"

"Thanks for pointing out the obvious. What? Did your mommy tell you it's wrong to pick on cripples? Well, I'm the DDR champion where I come from. See what I just did there, I called it, "DDR", only the champs can call it that, special club only the cool kids are allowed in."

"Come on, I could beat you with my eyes closed," the boy argued.

"Bring it on." House replied as he pushed himself up onto his cane and limped his way towards the machine. The boy stood back and cocked a skeptical eyebrow when he saw the limp. House turned around when he noticed the boy wasn't following. "Unless you're scared."

"I'm not scared of anything." The boy declared and hopped onto the machine.

"Thank God for youth's delusion of immortality." House announced as he climbed onto the machine, "By the way, looser buys the winner his next arcade game."

"Deal." The boy nodded.

The game started up and the boy with a cocky grin set the pace to "insane" and the song began. House stayed rooted for the entire song, using his cane and occasionally his foot when two feet were normally needed, to complete each beat in perfect timing. House could see his score increasing massively with every "Excellent" that passed across the screen and the growing annoyance of his competitor. At the end of the song, the boy red-faced from a mixture of embarrassment and frustration shouted at House, "No fair, you cheated!"

* * *

Cuddy tried to delude herself into thinking she was having a good time. The dandelions were in full bloom and it was a remarkably nice day for England in the middle of February. She tried to occupy her mind by conversing with Tudor dressed guides of Hampton Court or by getting an audio tour of the palace. But not even the beautiful rose gardens could block out the thoughts that constantly made their presence known. What if House started auctioning off her possessions? Or maybe House would tell the board members that Cuddy was getting a sex change. What if he told everyone about her wanting to have a baby? She could not concentrate a minute longer on the six wives of Henry VIII; she returned her audio-set and left the palace for the nearest pub in walking distance.

* * *

House was extremely pleased he had managed to trick the hospital into paying for his flight. First class, with seats that could turn into beds, screens in between seats, this was going to be pleasant. House hobbled over to his seat, his cane, yet again thought to have been a potential weapon, was taken from him so he was forced to gingerly lower himself without support onto his seat. He used his arms to lift his legs onto the footrest opposite his seat and realized he was in a very comfortable position indeed. He sighed contently and was about to fish out his iPod when a voice from the seat on the other side of the screen greeted him.

"Hugh, I'm hurt, not even as much as a hello to an old friend." Suddenly a head popped up over the screen, and House found himself looking at a 50 year-old man with glasses and black hair, slightly tinted gray that swept across his forehead. House stared back confused, "Excuse me?"

"Hugh what a wonderful American accent you are putting on, practicing for a new role?"

House looked back at this stranger with his eyebrows knit together. Why did this man keep calling him Hugh? "Um, sir I'm sorry my name is House, Gregory House."

"Very cute Hugh, is that the name of your new character?"

"Look, I don't know who you are, and frankly I don't care. So if you would please leave me alone I would very much like to watch Pride and Prejudice. Don't make me use the flight attendants." House growled before putting in his earphones and turning his attention to his TV screen. The gentleman turned away disgruntled and apparently very confused.

A few hours later, House had finally finished watching Pride and Prejudice and had come to the strict conclusion that all women were idiots. He simply did not understand the appeal of Mr. Darcy. He took his earphones out and quickly tried to put them back in when he noticed the gentleman from before stick his head over again.

"Look I'm sorry about before. I thought you were a friend of mine, Hugh Laurie? You have a striking resemblance to him, so much so that I still fear this is all a big practical joke."

House stared back at the man disbelieving, "No, I'm Gregory House and I am not at all pleased to meet you." He assured with a fake smile drawn across his face.

"Well my name is Stephen Fry, I only tell you that out of courtesy because _some_ people have it. But anyways, the real reason I bothered you again was not to apologize from before. I heard from one of the flight attendants that you are a doctor, is that correct?" Stephen Fry asked.

House sighed, that annoying fact seemed to follow him everywhere he went, it was almost like a curse. Stephen took the sigh as a yes and continued, "You see lately I been feeling "under the weather," so to speak, and I went online and found remarkably that a lot of my symptoms seemed to match Lupus, I was wondering if you might…" House interrupted him.

"It's never Lupus," House plugged his earphones in and closed his eyes, signaling the end of their conversation.

* * *

Cuddy finally broke down and called the hospital. She was relieved to learn that the hospital was fine and no nasty rumors about her had been spread. She listened to Dr. Gurther's complaints about House not turning up for work and figured that that was House's "secret weapon." After that, the rest of Cuddy's day was much nicer. She re-entered the palace and thoroughly enjoyed learning about the palace's history. She left with a smile on her face and a cute poem she could use at cocktail parties with donors about Henry's 6 wives.

By the time she arrived back at the hotel, it was late and she was tired and wanted to go up to her room and go to sleep. She took the elevator up to her floor, got her card out of her purse, swiped it in the door to her room and let herself in. It was pitch black and it was obvious nobody had been in it since the maids in the morning. Cuddy flipped on the light and made her way over to the dressing table. She placed her purse on the table and lifted her head to the mirror to check her make-up and let out a scream. There in a chair in the corner of the room sat a tired looking Gregory House.

"Hello Cuddy, fancy meeting you here." Cuddy whipped around at the sound of his voice, fire in her eyes, she refused to say anything and merely glared. House shrugged his shoulders in response to her silence. He got up from the chair and looked at her bed, "So where do I sleep?"

"You won't sleep anywhere. You're not even supposed to be here!" Cuddy yelled, but then lowered her voice when a loud knock came from the adjacent room. "Why are you here?"

"What's a vacation without Gregory House?" He asked picking up her purse from the dressing table.

"You don't go on vacations," she replied snatching the purse back from him.

"I go on vacations, you just don't know about them."

"Getting high and flying over the moon does not count as a vacation." Cuddy argued settling back into the familiar banter.

"Well I'm not really here for the vacation anyways, just here for the conference."

Cuddy laughed, "House I've never seen you go to a conference evens the ones that are mandatory. Besides, you are not even an Endocrinologist." She added.

"You don't need to be one to know all about it, I mean how complicated could hormones be." House teased as he ducked, a magazine barely missing his head. "Anyway, I can tell you haven't taken your Midol for tonight, so I'll just go to my room. I'll see you bright and early for the conference tomorrow."

"You're staying here as well? I hope you realize the hospital is not paying for this!"

"Actually it already is." House assured as he closed the door. He grinned when he heard the thump of a pillow hitting the door.

Cuddy plopped onto her bed and lied down. She could not believe it, House was here in London, staying at the same hotel she was. She sat up and ran her fingers threw her hair in annoyance. Why did he have to control every aspect of her life, maybe it was to compensate for her being his boss, she didn't know. Cuddy got up from the bed and paced and suddenly a very scary thought occurred to her. "I'll see you bright and early for the conference tomorrow."

House was planning on going to the conference tomorrow with her.


	3. Chapter 3

Two Americans in London

Chp 3: All Quiet on the Hamley's Front

Now Cuddy looks back on this day and laughs fondly at herself. It was almost a perfect example of what strange things House drove her to do sometimes.

Cuddy decided she was going to leave the hotel early, hoping to avoid House and the humiliation he would certainly cause her if he went to the conference. Cuddy slowly exited her room, half expecting House to be sitting in a chair, guarding the outside of her room. She treaded lightly on the corridor's carpet, as if each step might signal to House she was leaving. Her nerves were so strained that she practically screamed when the elevator opened to reveal a man with a cane standing in it. She felt her cheeks grow hot from embarrassment as she passed the elderly gentleman, who immediately disembarked when he saw that Cuddy was getting on. Down to the lobby and past reception, it looked as if she was home free. She stepped outside and took a melodramatic intake of fresh air. The coldness in the air caused her to cough, and she suddenly realized how cold she was. Rubbing her hands together, she looked at her surroundings and noticed a COSTA coffee shop across the street from the hotel. Cuddy sighed contently, anticipating the warmth of a hot drink. But the smile that had formed on her lips was soon wiped away as Gregory House sat down in one of the bar seats facing the front window. Cuddy wasn't sure if he had seen her yet but decided not to wait around and took off running in the opposite direction.

* * *

House lifted his eyes from his coffee just in time to see a frazzled Cuddy running away from the COSTA he was sitting in. It made him smirk, he had been right. He knew Cuddy would be tempted by coffee in the morning and had conveniently placed himself in the coffee store across from the hotel, in the hopes that she would not so easily escape him. He loved being right. He grabbed his cane that was resting against the front window and expertly hopped off the chair, managing to adjust his weight to experience as little pain as possible. He rubbed his thigh a bit and realized he was running low on Vicodin; luckily he was running on an adrenaline rush and could only grin as he pushed open the door to the coffee store. Cuddy had an advantage of a head-start and the use of two legs, but he always liked a challenge.

* * *

Cuddy had stopped running when she realized that people had begun to stare at her. She figured even if House had seen her, she would already be so far ahead of him that he would never catch up with his limp. Never-the-less, she still looked back over her shoulder every now and again just to check.

After a while of walking without House turning up, Cuddy was lulled into a false sense of security and slowed down her swift walk to a stroll and she even took the time to window shop. It was this time spent on window shopping that gave Cuddy her second heart-attack of the morning. In the pharmacy across the street from where she was standing was House arguing with the pharmacist probably about the prescription that House needed to receive any Vicodin. Cuddy panicked, how had House caught up with her so fast! She looked around for a place to hide, somewhere that even he would never think she would go. Just then, as if prompted, a little girl ran straight into Cuddy. The girl muttered a rushed apology, something about she should have looked where she was going. Cuddy nodded to the girl but wasn't really listening she had turned to see where the girl and come from and Cuddy realized she was standing in front of Hamley's, the largest toy store in London.

* * *

House limped into Hamley's rubbing his thigh and cursing himself for forgetting to get Wilson to prescribe him more Vicodin before he left. Now he was nearing the end of his supply and was starting to feel the effects. He had seen Cuddy run into Hamley's and smiled at her logic. It was indeed the last place on earth he would ever expect to find Cuddy. A chase would be fun.

He took another step into the building and a fresh bunch of pain seeped from his thigh. He decided that he was going to need some help catching Cuddy. He looked around and noticed all the sale clerks showing off toys and gadgets to eager young children and was suddenly struck by a very cunning plan.

* * *

Cuddy had seen House enter Hamley's, she knew now he had seen her all along, but she could not yet quite believe that the game was up. Not until she was caught anyway. She kept her eyes on House, sliding around the massive stuffed elephant she was using as protection. Her eyes narrowed in suspicion as her gaze followed House as he limped towards one of the sales clerks. Her "House Sense" tingled and told her that danger lurked when a conversation between House and the clerk turned into a massive discussion between House and all the clerks on the floor. After a while of conversation, the leader of the clerks grabbed the nearest speaker phone.

"Will all the boys and girls that are here today on the ground floor please come over here. We have a very entertaining surprise here today." Cuddy moved between the huge stuffed animals in the jungle section, trying to get a closer look as it became difficult as the crowd of children surrounding the speaker got larger.

"Today children, we have a very special guest. This everyone is the brave knight Sir House." The speaker said indicating with his hands towards House. "Sir House has come to us today on a special quest from the land of Princeton to defeat an evil princess. Sir House says she goes by the name Lady Cuddy and has managed to make it into our world and is now plotting to destroy us all. But brave Sir House needs your help children, in his last fight with Lady Cuddy; Sir House injured himself and is need of our assistance. Children, Sir House needs your help to find Lady Cuddy, she's hiding somewhere here in Hamley's."

Cuddy's eyes widened as she realized House's plan, she stepped back lightly to try and make a quiet escape when she trod on the foot of a young child. The young child let out a piercing scream, Cuddy tried to apologize to the mother but when she looked up and noticed the crowd of children pointing at her, she dashed up the stairs but did not get very far away before she heard House bellow, "There she goes!"

* * *

House laughed to himself. Each child had been given a foam ball to use as a weapon against the evil princess. Children could throw the balls from a distance, but no child was to approach Lady Cuddy, it was Sir House's destiny to defeat the evil princess. House almost felt bad for Cuddy, she stood no chance.

* * *

Cuddy lay on her stomach behind the giant robot on the top floor, hoping that would serve as enough of a barrier from House's mini-army. She made a mental note to murder House later for this, but for now the adrenaline rush and her competitive nature were enough to keep her in his game, "Just long enough to beat him," she thought.

The air that surrounded Cuddy became very still and her ears pricked up at the sound of approaching footsteps. She lowered herself to the ground as the footsteps halted. Then she heard House's voice issue a command. "Ready, Aim, FIRE!" Suddenly, as if flung by arrows, a shower of foam balls descended upon Cuddy. She rolled away to the side, James Bond style and managed to pick up a light-saber that was on display. She now had a means of defense. Now as the foam balls were flung at her, she would dodge and deflect, never again letting a foam ball near enough to mess up her hair. But as soon as she managed to get to foam balls under control, a group of boys who had gotten a bit to carried away by the battle, took remote control cars from their testing areas and sent them chasing after Cuddy. Cuddy saw the remote-control cars, looked down to her Prada heels, dropped the light-saber, quickly scooped the heels off her feet and dashed down the escalator to the next floor level. Cuddy began to run the direction of the exit, when she passed by some toy swords. Cuddy grinned, this game would end now.

* * *

House had to admit he liked action movie Cuddy. He half speculated that Cuddy would make an excellent Bond girl. When he noticed the boys' remote control cars go after Cuddy, he realized the game had got a bit out of hand. He gave Cuddy some time to make her escape by addressing his troops.

"You have all fought a weary battle and you have done me proud. You have weakened the evil princess for me and now it can only be I that can finish her off. You see, only the purest of heart can defeat pure wickedness."

"Oh really?" Cuddy purred as she stepped out of the shadow she had been hiding in, elaborately playing with the sword she had taken from below. She had to repress a giggle as the children gasped in shock and fear. Cuddy liked playing the baddy.

"Lady Cuddy, we meet again."

"Yes Sir House, but I assure you it will be the last." Cuddy said before lunging at House with her sword. She assumed since she was evil, she was allowed to be sneaky. House brought his cane up as a weapon and deflected her blow.

The duel commenced, but what had started as a playful thing soon turned into a fight to the death. It was as if all the bitterness and resentments of their past struggles with each other had surfaced and this fight symbolized the struggles they had with each other and with themselves. All of their energy was poured into swiping at each other and trying their best to hurt the other one. For a moment, Cuddy felt a pang of guilt when she saw House start to hobble without his cane, but a swift whack to the shin from House made her swing harder at him. The children were mesmerized by the duel between the good knight and the evil princess. They followed as the duel went into the back staircase that was now decorated in a Narnia style.

The fight's intensity rose until the climax when House sent Cuddy's sword flying out of her hand and down the staircase. As House brought his cane to Cuddy's throat, the timed fake snow machines in the back staircase turned on and soon fake snow was pouring out. The fake snow lightly falling on their heads seemed to bring House and Cuddy out of their trance and back into reality. They laughed a bit and Cuddy put up her hands in fake surrender. The children clapped for them, realizing that the performance was over. House and Cuddy bowed to their audience and were about to leave when a girl in the front row asked them.

"But that's not how the story ends, is it?"

"Well, why not, good triumphed over evil." House said with a wink towards Cuddy.

"But…she's a princess, princesses are always kissed by their true love at the end of the story." The girl stated as if everyone was supposed to know that.

"But remember, I'm an _evil_ princess!" Cuddy reminded the girl.

Then with the understanding that a child can only master the girl pointed out,

"Just because you seem evil on the outside, doesn't mean you are evil. I bet you just want to be loved, like anyone else."

Cuddy was speechless; she looked down and was mortified to find that tears were building up in her eyes. House must have sensed her sudden ridged ness because she felt his very soft touch of his fingers under her chin which gently forced her to lift her face. Fake snow fell across her eyelids, helping to blur her vision. House's face was a fuzzy blob and it surprised her when it came close and a very soft and warm kiss fell upon her lips. It was brief and appropriate for children, but that did not take away the passion that had created it. House limped quickly out of Hamley's with of bunch of children surrounding him asking for his autograph and Cuddy was left with a slight tingling sensation remaining on her lips.


	4. Chapter 4

Two Americans in London

Chp 4: Wuthering Heights

A loud rapping sound at her door woke Cuddy from her dreamless slumber. She sat up and rubbed her eyes, annoyed, she had a very good idea who was knocking on her door. The loud sound of wood hitting against wood echoed throughout her room and forced her to get out of bed to answer the door. The rapping became louder, now using the sounds on the door to beat out well known rhythms. Cuddy opened the door so suddenly, House was caught by surprise his cane held in mid-air waiting to knock on her door once again. Cuddy snatched the cane from House's hand and slammed the door in his face. She tossed the cane onto the armchair in the corner of her room and went back to bed. A few moments later, the knocking on the door started again. Cuddy practically growled into her pillow before getting up and once again answering the door to House. House, more wary this time, took his new cane down faster to avoid it getting swiped.

"I always carry a spare." House said with a wink at Cuddy's glare.

"What is so urgent that you felt it was your duty to come and wake me up?" Cuddy uttered still half asleep, not quite ready for the banter that was bound to ensue.

"I wanted to get all the touristy stuff out of the way as soon as possible," House replied in an almost cheery voice.

"Excuse me? Are you implying that _we_ would be doing touristy stuff together?" Cuddy questioned.

"Well duh! I saw how you wander aimlessly around London, and since you certainly aren't here for the conference I thought," House was answering when Cuddy get him off.

"I don't remember inviting _you_ on this vacation House."

"Well, when _you_ put Dr. Gurther in charge of me _you_ practically sealed your own fate."

"As much as I love talking to you House, some people actually like to get _their_ beauty sleep. We'll finish this pointless conversation later." Cuddy muttered sarcastically pushing the door closed. She was annoyed when she couldn't close the door because House had stubbornly put his cane in the way.

"What are you are you implying Dr. Cuddy, that I'm not beautiful?" House said with a sweep of his hair.

"House!" Cuddy sighed exasperated.

House ruffled through his coat pockets and pulled out a tourist book, he opened it to a page and threw it to Cuddy. She caught it and gave him a fierce look to show she was not pleased with him. The page was about the Millennium Wheel.

"The Millennium Wheel, so what?" Cuddy asked while tossing the book onto the bed.

"I want to ride it." House paused.

Cuddy sighed and turned around to get her things, she saw it was pointless arguing with him, but it surprised her when he continued.

"Its not like London has an all access pass to cripples, the only way I'm going to see all of London is if I see its skyline." House muttered bitterly.

Cuddy turned around clothes in hand, and for a second caught a glimpse of unguarded affection towards her plastered all over House's face.

"What time do you want me to meet you in the lobby?"

The look had gone in a second and House was back to his usual self, "You don't have to meet me in the Lobby, I can wait here," House suggested, smirking as he gave Cuddy's assets a nice long look.

"Oh no you won't, I've got to change." Cuddy replied, pushing House outside of her room before he could reply. After she thought House was gone Cuddy took her clothes into the bathroom and locked the door. What Cuddy didn't realize was House had slipped her room key into his pocket before he left, and now used it to re-enter her room.

* * *

He decided to use the time she would take in the shower to search for her prescription pad. He wasn't even sure if she was allowed to prescribe in England but his Vicodin supply had gotten dangerously low, and therefore he was on slim rations. He could already feel the effects of withdrawal but had convinced himself it was the pain. House emptied her purse, searched through her drawers, pausing for a moment to admire a black thong, and searched anywhere else he could think of before coming up with nothing. It had been a long shot anyway. House gripped his cane harder than usual as he came up to quickly from his kneeling position. A wave of nausea came over him that made him wonder once again if it was the pain that was causing this or if it was withdrawal, he shook the thought away, not liking to think about it.

* * *

Cuddy smiled to herself while she put her lipstick on. It had been a silent agreement between them not to talk about the kiss, but it didn't stop her thinking about it. It had been so unlike House, so gentle and caring, and then there was the look she caught this morning. Cuddy grinned foolishly, and put her fingers to her lips, lightly tracing, trying to create the sensation he left on them from the previous day.

She came down to the lobby and had to repress a grin when she saw House nod approvingly at her clothes. She was wearing a flowing white dress and a black sweater to compensate for the cold weather outside.

"Conservative Cuddy, not as great a fantasy sluty administrator Cuddy, but very nice to look at." House called out to her, Cuddy was secretly pleased at his reaction but threw him a look of disgust.

"House I don't want you fantasizing about me at all." House held out his arm to her in a gentlemanly manner but Cuddy knew House to well to accept it, instead she walked by him and flirtatiously looked over her shoulder before shouting, "Come on House, my grandmother could walk faster than you and she needs a wheelchair."

* * *

It was indeed an impressive sight. The massive Ferris wheel was an engineering masterpiece. Cuddy looked down to the brochure she was holding and read that another name for the Millennium Wheel was the London Eye. She couldn't help but agree with the brochure that the name was very appropriate and allowed herself to grin in the direction of House, who was busying bartering with the ticket seller about the price of their tickets.

House came back over to Cuddy with two tickets clasped in one hand and the cane in the other. "I got a great discount on our tickets, its amazing what people will do when you tell them they are dying."

Cuddy was shocked, that was low even for House, "You have no problem abusing your power do you?" Cuddy observed.

"Who said I was abusing my power, the man really is dying." House replied in a manner of fact voice that disturbed Cuddy. How could House be so cold? Their conversation came to an abrupt end, each not sure how to continue, each keeping their mouth shut for fear of what might come out.

Their wait to get on the wheel was a silent one, the previous conversation still pressing on their minds. They were ushered into their carriage on the wheel with 5 other people and waited for the machine to start. It was House that broke the silence between them.

"Cuddy, do you think I'm cold?" House asked. Cuddy looked up to him with a face full of surprise, how had he known what she was thinking?

"Sometimes I wonder…" Cuddy murmured. She didn't really want to talk about this, she wasn't comfortable thinking about House's coldness, let alone talking with him about it. She moved to the opposite side of the carriage where nobody was and watched as the London skyline came into view.

House paused and stood in place, he wanted to go over to Cuddy, explain himself better to her. Let her know that he was intentionally cold so that people wouldn't expect things of him, so he wouldn't hurt people, so he couldn't get hurt. In the end he decided to follow her, but instead of revealing his true feelings, he approached Cuddy on familiar ground.

"Coldness is relative, what may be cold to you, I may deem necessary. Let's take an example, Foreman's dying of some strange, unknown disease but the dean of medicine won't let us take a sample of his brain." House reminded Cuddy.

"House that is completely unfair, you know I had no other choice, he was contagious and dangerous, and it's low that you even bring that up." Cuddy retorted.

"I only bring it up to show you how coldness is relative. Some may have perceived what you did as cold and uncaring, but you saw it as necessary, that you had no other choice."

"How can you even compare us? I had to make a tough call between spreading an infectious and _fatal_, let me remind you, disease or potentially saving a friend's life. You were just happy because you got a great deal from a man who was dying. Yeah we're both cold bastards." Cuddy yelled at House, she noticed the other people in the carriage look at her and she yet again walked away from House, fuming and having no intention of yelling in public with him again. But House wasn't stopped he came up behind her.

"Cameron thinks she understands me. But then she is disgusted by me when I lie or cheat or blatantly don't care what happens to get something done." House's voice trailed off as if he was waiting for Cuddy to say something. Cuddy turned around, she was confused. What was with the topic change, it wasn't like House to let something go. She looked into his eyes, trying to read him but realized it was pointless his mask was up, as always.

"Cameron is young and naïve, although she would never admit it, she tries to understand concepts that would break the happy bubble she surrounds herself with and fails miserably. She will never be able to understand you House because she has never been given a reason to hate the world, to hate the people in it." Cuddy said a bit more harshly than she intended to, she was still mad about the previous discussion, but it wasn't Cameron's fault House was an ass.

"She had a husband that died of brain cancer."

"Oh." Cuddy hadn't known that about Cameron, it gave Cuddy a new found respect for the girl.

"I think Cameron will never understand me because she doesn't want to understand me. She's afraid of what she might find, of what I'll turn out to be. What I really am." House uttered.

Cuddy suddenly felt empathy for House. He was using Cameron as a vessel to show his feelings to Cuddy. She knew he could never say something straight out, he was indirectly telling her about his insecurities, his hatred of himself, that his coldness bothered him. Cuddy stepped in closer to House, so close she could feel his hot breath on her shoulder.

"What are you really?" Cuddy asked.

"A disappointment." House explained, but he must have crossed an invisible line for himself and he suddenly back away from Cuddy and walked to the other side of the carriage. Cuddy cringed as he gingerly lowered himself to the ground, face full of pain that was not created by the leg alone. It was Cuddy's turn to follow House; she began to approach him when the carriage jolted. Cuddy froze; the carriage jolted again and then came to a complete stop. The talking that had buzzed around the air a few seconds ago had now ceased and there was complete silence. The speaker in the corner suddenly came to life and broke the silence.

"Sorry for the inconvenience everyone but the Millennium Wheel is experiencing some technical difficulties. We've had to stop the carriages moving for safety reasons until we have fixed the problem. Sorry again for the inconvenience."

There was a general sigh of relief once the situation had been explained and Cuddy felt it safe again to advance towards House.

"You know this stupid idea was yours." Cuddy teased as she slid down the wall next to him.

"It was your stupid idea to come to London." House retorted half heartedly, he still wasn't comfortable with conversation after his confession from before. They sat in silence for a few moments before Cuddy tried again.

"You want to know something House, I'm a disappointment too."

"Yeah you're certainly the disappointment type. I see screw-up written all over your face." House said sarcastically.

"I mean, I'm also a disappointment to myself." Cuddy admitted with more understanding than House thought possible from her.

Cuddy continued, "When you are a little girl, all you dream about is your beautiful wedding, your handsome husband, your wonderful home and all of the attractive little babies you are going to have. Every little girl and woman on earth probably dreams of loving and being loved. I've often wondered about love and have promised myself time and time again that I will find it, I still have time. But look at me House, I'm 41, never been married, not even close to it, never had kids and my time is running out. That's why I need these fertility meds to work, because this is my last shot at love. My last shot to love and be loved back. So if I'm not a disappointment I obviously don't know the meaning of disappointment." Cuddy said with a weak laugh. House silently slipped his hand into Cuddy's gave it a squeeze and then quickly removed it, looking out of the windows and regretting the awkward moment he thought he had created.

* * *

It took a couple of hours before the carriages began moving again. House and Cuddy hadn't talked since Cuddy's declaration mainly because House, who was still suffering from Jet-lag, had fallen asleep. He was now leaning on Cuddy's shoulder, she allowed herself to smile affectionately at him, she figured she was safe since he was asleep. She was almost disappointed when the carriages began moving again because that would mean he would wake up and the warmth of their bodies close together would be gone. She tapped him lightly awake, making sure to mask her affection with a look of annoyance to greet him with.

"House it's been hours, now get your oversized head off of my shoulder." House woke up with a start and clumsily used his cane to shove himself back onto his feet. But he immediately regretted this decision as the nausea and pain returned from this morning.

Cuddy noticed how pale House had become and was immediately worried. "House are you alright?"

"Do I look alright to you?" House snapped back. The nausea was worse than this morning's, his vision became a little blurred and an ache in the back of his head signaled that a bad headache was approaching.

Cuddy ignored this familiar treatment and got up to support House if he needed it, he shook her off still embarrassed about falling asleep on her.

"I don't need you groping me Cuddy, I need more Vicodin."

It was this again, this same stupid argument that always came up.

"Well I sure as hell don't have any, it's not like I was exactly expecting you to stalk me to London now was I?"

"You could write me a prescription."

"It wouldn't matter, I'm not licensed in England, they wouldn't accept it."

House began to feel dizzy as the carriage came to a stop at ground level once more. The nausea was getting much more intense, it was taking all of House's self control to stop from gagging. Cuddy noticed House beginning to sway but daren't touch him again.

"We can go to the hospital in the morning and get them to prescribe it to you." Cuddy suggested as they exited the carriage. When House didn't reply Cuddy kept walking.

House finally admitted he was going through withdrawal. The pain in his leg had subsided and now all House could even register was the cold sweat on him, the bursting headache and the overwhelming nausea that was growing too much for him to handle.

Cuddy turned around at the sound of gasps and saw House leaning by the river throwing up. She shook her head in disgust. She walked back towards him and said before she left.

"Is this always how it's going to be House? Are you always going to be so dependent on Vicodin that it's going to control your life? Look at you, its pathetic, I regret that I even associate with you sometimes." House could not register much, but could hear the sound of her high heels stomping away from him.

* * *

House approached Cuddy's room that night. His nausea had passed for now and he wanted to apologize for what happened at the wheel. He brought his hand up to knock at the door, but brought it back down. He sighed in loathing of himself, why was it so hard for him to talk to another human being? He turned away from her room and walked down the hallway to the lobby with the plan on spending his night at the bar.

* * *

Cuddy sat in her pajamas clutching her cell phone. Her tear stained face contrasted sharply with her pained laughter. Her cell phone had told her that it was Valentine's Day, she hadn't even realized it. She was laughing at the twisted way House tried to woo her, their twisted relationship and the irony of it all. She sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. Another Valentine's Day alone, another year gone by and still no change in her single status, alone, alone, alone. She had got up and planned to raid her mini-bar for anything alcoholic when she noticed House's cane from the morning lying on the armchair where she had left it. She abandoned her thoughts about the mini-bar and instead grabbed the cane and returned to the bed. Cuddy laughed again at her situation and thought that God really did have a sense of humor. She brought the cane closer to her in an embrace, a sad substitute for the person she wanted to hold. Maybe she wasn't as alone as she thought she was.


	5. Chapter 5

Two Americans in London

CHP 5: A Tale of Two Cities

Wilson sat in his office. He was confused and a little uneasy. House hadn't turned up for work in 4 days and wouldn't answer his phone for Wilson. For the first two days Wilson thought House, like a child, was taking advantage of the substitute dean of medicine and was skipping work. But by now on the 4th day he was starting to get worried, it wasn't often his friend dropped off the face of the earth. Wilson knew the secret to House's absence was in his apartment, but House had hidden the spare key and so now Wilson was locked out. The only good thing about this situation was that it gave Wilson new information; wherever House was he didn't want Wilson to know where. He had purposely left without telling him and hidden all the evidence from him. Interesting, Wilson decided he needed some help if he was going to solve this puzzle.

* * *

Cuddy and House were back to their usual selves the next day, each preferring not to bring up the previous day's discussion and secretly hoping the other one had forgotten all that had occurred. Cuddy had kept her word and was now escorting House to the nearest hospital to pick up his Vicodin. Once seated in the underground subway, Cuddy resumed their conversation from the morning.

"Getting your Vicodin is going to be a tad bit trickier here in England, after all you're going to be limited to what they prescribe. Here you don't have Wilson or me able to enable you."

"I'll get what I want, where there's a will, there's a way." House argued.

"Didn't you tell me that infamous phrase, "you can't always get what you want"?" Cuddy claimed.

"And when did you start believing in platitudes? I didn't peg you as the type of person that got all warm and fuzzy when they received a Hallmark card." House retorted.

"Oh you don't know half of the evils I get up to in my spare time." Cuddy muttered as she rolled her eyes.

"Maybe not, but I'm certainly imaginative. I can come up with all sorts of situations for, what was it _partypants_?"

Cuddy glared at House as the tube reached their stop and they got out.

* * *

Foreman, Cameron and Chase reacted almost predictably to Wilson's plan. Foreman rejected the idea saying it was an invasion of House's personal space and they should just enjoy the time that he was away. Chase mumbled something about wanting to keep his job. But what surprised Wilson was Cameron's response to Wilson's request. It actually seemed like she wanted to break into House's apartment.

"I've done it before with Chase, we didn't get caught then. House is away now, and I'm interested where to."

"Cameron you can't be serious. If he found out that we had been rifling through all of his stuff he would make our lives miserable."

"Not if we're with Wilson. In this case Wilson would be the one yelled at, after its Wilson's idea."

Chase was about to reply to Cameron's idiotic statement when Foreman cut in, "What do either of you guys know about breaking into somebody's home?"

Wilson and Cameron looked at each other puzzled; "I've seen you guys do it a thousand times, it can't be that…"Cameron began when Foreman interrupted her.

"I'm coming with you. Cuddy would be furious if she got back and her head of oncology and one of House's fellows were stuck in jail. Then all of our lives would be hell." Foreman stood up from the table, joining Cameron and Wilson, leaving Chase sitting at the table.

"Don't think that's going to change my mind. I'm not risking anything that will allow House to generate more abuse towards me. I'm staying here, end of argument." Chase announced, folding his arms over his chest, trying to look firm in his decision.

Cameron signaled to the others to follow her out the door, "Oh well, we'll just leave without you."

"You realize this stalking obsession you have with House is not in the least bit attractive." Chase called out to Cameron in one last attempt to stop them.

* * *

When Cuddy and House arrived at the hospital, despite House assurance that their case was an emergency, they were shown into the waiting room with at least 20 other people and waited for their turn. House sat still for about 10 minutes before complaining.

"What takes so long?"

Cuddy turned to him astonished, "House you have been waiting for ten minutes, give the doctors some time to get to you."

"What are they doing, sitting on their asses? I bet half these people in here could be individually diagnosed in less than two minutes." House stated.

"I think you above all other people would know about being a doctor who sits on his ass. Maybe if you are subjected to the waiting you will understand what you are putting patients through when you make them wait so long."

"No all this is doing is making me pissed off with the NHS, but I think that's a common phenomenon here."

"What is this negative attitude against England, is little Greg House homesick?"

"What I miss the most are the scandalously low tops my boss normally wears at work, which seem to be lacking here." House uttered as he indicated with his eyes towards her turtle-neck protected assets. Their conversation ended when Cuddy, sick of the public embarrassment, picked up a magazine and forced House to find amusement elsewhere. House sighed and began drumming his fingers on the chair he was sitting in. A nearby gentleman coughed and House sprung into action.

"Go home old man, you're not really sick you've got the rhino virus, or in Laymen's terms a cold, you don't need to be here." House called out to the man.

Confused the man looked up," Excuse me? Are you talking to me?"

"I'm a doctor you see, I'm here to get my own medication and hypochondriacs like you are clogging up the waiting room."

The old man huffed and turned his back to House, Cuddy glanced over her magazine at House, giving him a warning look. "Don't push it." She mouthed to him. But it seemed to be those very words that spurred House on. In less than 30 minutes he had diagnosed every person in the room and had sent more than half packing, ears ringing with insults about their own stupidity.

"You do realize if you are wrong, somebody may be going home with a fatal disease. So sure you don't need a second opinion?" Cuddy asked.

"Why get a second opinion when you know they will confirm what you say. This way is much faster."

"I hope karma exists, it would be nice to that oversized head of yours to get somewhat deflated." Cuddy replied.

But House was right, the wait was significantly shorter than it could have been and House was admitted to see a doctor 30 minutes later.

* * *

It was strange being in House's apartment, invited or un-invited, it gave off the same aura of un-welcome ness. Foreman had managed to pick the lock and was now with Chase, who had eventually broken, to search House's kitchen for clues. Wilson and Cameron had gone into the bedroom. Wilson turned on the light and was appalled at the state of House's room. Papers everywhere, dirty clothes on the floor, bed- unmade with sheets slipping to the floor. It didn't seem to bother Cameron, in fact the first thing she did was look under the mattress with a flashing grin towards Wilson, "Might as well check the obvious places as well as the weird ones, maybe in House's case they reverse meaning."

Wilson shrugged his shoulders and went to House's bookcase to search for some hint to where House had gone. A few moments of hunting had gone by when Foreman and Chase appeared in the doorway, holding a plastic bag full of prescription bottles.

"All Vicodin." Foreman announced.

"Obviously Tritter really affected House," Chase added sarcastically.

* * *

"You want Vicodin?" The doctor who had seen them was in House's opinion an idiot. It had taken him three tries to understand that House was a certified doctor and already knew what was wrong with him.

"I've had this infarction for the last five years. We've become pretty close, I'm sure it's a rock solid diagnosis." House stated.

"I'm sorry, Vicodin is a highly addictive drug, and we can't prescribe without a full physical examination." The doctor replied.

"You don't have to worry about me suing you for my resulting addiction because I'm _already_ addicted." House said with a sinister grin.

Cuddy pushed House outside the room, telling him she would take care of the situation, "You're only making it worse."

House stood outside the examination room very curious as to what was going on inside. It was about 15 minutes later when Cuddy emerged victorious with a Vicodin prescription.

"What? How did you con that sucker out of a prescription?" House asked.

"That is going to be my little secret."

"I thought you couldn't enable me in England?" House teased.

Cuddy's face turned serious, "This prescription will last you a few days. At the end of those days your adventures in London will be over and you will go back and leave me in peace."

"But we're having so much fun! Are you telling me we aren't friends anymore?" House said with a fake whimper.

"Don't try playground politics with me House, at that age the girl always beats the boy and ends up on top." Cuddy answered saucily.

* * *

"Look what he's stashed on top of here." Chase called out to Wilson from the step ladder leaning against the top of the fridge. "Tons and tons of alcohol, I knew House had a problem with Vicodin but with alcohol too?"

"Toss one down, let me see." Wilson commanded and Chase threw down a bottle of whiskey.

* * *

House slammed his empty whisky shot glass back onto the table and shouted to the bartender, "Another one over here, Bob."

"My name's Peter." The bartended replied disgruntled.

"House didn't anyone ever tell you that mixing alcohol and drugs is a bad idea?" Cuddy asked. They had stopped by a pub on their way back to the hotel that night. They had spent their afternoon shopping on Oxford Street and House had complained he needed a drink to drown out any fashion tips he had learnt from Cuddy that day.

"No, all the cool kids did it at my school." House replied popping a Vicodin into his mouth and taking a big swig of the latest Whiskey shot, just to prove to Cuddy he could handle it. Cuddy sighed and ordered a shot of whiskey for herself.

"What are you doing?" House spluttered.

"I told you, your ego needs to be deflated."

"What are you planning to do, out drink me?"

"If that's what it takes then yeah."

"Bad idea, you need to have a lot of tolerance to keep up with me," House finished another shot.

"You'd be surprised as to what I can put up with." Cuddy downed her own drink.

* * *

Wilson shook his head looking at the kitchen table. He couldn't believe what he was seeing, London travel brochures and airline information. He wondered how long Cuddy would be able to put up with House.

_**P.S. Going on a week trip so might be a while till the next one! Hope you all are enjoying appreciate any comments you have to say!**_


	6. Chapter 6

* * *

Two Americans in London

CHP 6: Barefoot in the park

Wilson quickly slid the brochures into his pocket, not quite sure what he was planning on doing with them. While he was in deep thought about his certain state of affairs, Cameron came up behind him and made him jump.

"There's nothing here Wilson, House left here with no evidence to incriminate him." Cameron announced over Wilson's shoulder.

"No, unless you count the massive supply of narcotics he keeps in his apartment." Chase commented sarcastically as he entered the kitchen with Foreman close behind.

"I wasn't speaking literally." Cameron rolled her eyes at Wilson to which he nodded in sympathy, desperately trying to seem normal.

"Look, there's nothing here. Like I said before we left, we're not going to figure out where House is, so we might a well enjoy the time that he's gone." Foreman pointed out.

"Not to mention there's no Cuddy to ride us either." Chase added to which Wilson shifted uncomfortably, crap! He needed to get of here before his body language gave everything away. Cameron noticed the awkward shuffle but didn't say anything, she decided she would wait and see how the night panned out.

* * *

It was late at night or maybe it was early in the morning. House couldn't tell. All he knew was the lightning right now flattered Cuddy immensely. They stumbled out of the bar together, agreeing on a tie for fear of alcohol poisoning if they drank anymore. House was carrying his cane, not using it, Vicodin and alcohol dulling his senses and his pain. He walked as normally as a wasted cripple could walk. He was doing better than Cuddy anyway. Her high heels sent her tumbling several times, each ending with a hysterical fit of laughter in a ball on the floor. Eventually Cuddy left her shoes on the side of the road, deeming them as "hooker shoes" anyway.

"How did the Dean of Medicine get so good at drinking?" House asked.

"You know to your surprise, I'm not just the Dean of Medicine. I do have a life when you're not ruining it." She replied.

"Well if you only have a life when I'm not ruining it, I must be your entire life."

"The nurses would probably agree with you. They already think we're sleeping together. They seem to think we're perfect for each other. But I'm not sure whether to take that as an insult or a compliment."

"Some people just can't understand the subtly of my charm and grace."

"I don't think you even understand it." Cuddy expressed, but upon seeing the look on House's face when she said that she quickly changed the subject. "Well you may be a Renaissance man, but there's still one thing I can do that you can't."

"Bleed out of your vagina, walk around in monstrous heels, and pull off very low cut tops?"

"I can do this." Cuddy ran across the road to the park and in the process nearly got run over by a taxi. She giggled when the cabbie starting swearing at her while he drove away.

"I think you're better at bleeding out of your vagina." House teased as he hobbled toward her into the park.

"Well," Cuddy spluttered, searching for a comeback, "Size _does_ matter House, so there!"

She marched away in fake anger cracking up at her own joke. Cuddy was completely wasted; soon she was jumping from street lamp posts and performing various musical numbers. House watched Cuddy, a sly smile spreading over his face. She was extremely entertaining to watch; every now and then a smile would escape from her lips that was so radiant it forced him to smile back. But soon Cuddy got tired of jumping around and sat down on the bench House had plopped himself on.

"Bravo, bravo," House clapped, "Now, when do we get to the strip tease?"

"Well that's not until the third act, don't want to look like a whore now do I?" Cuddy replied with a wink. The alcohol had loosened her tongue.

* * *

Cameron knew something was up. Wilson had acted strangely all of last night and had suspiciously given up the hunt for House. She consulted her colleagues.

"You don't think Wilson was acting weird, like he's hiding something from us?"

"Cameron, why does it matter? If Wilson found out something that he doesn't want us to know, so be it." Chase explained.

"Aren't you at all curious as to what was so bad that Wilson is hiding it from us?" she asked.

Foreman sighed and got up from the conference table to make himself more coffee. "Why are we even discussing this? What House does is his business, not ours. In fact I'm happy the guy is taking a break, maybe he'll lighten up when he gets back."

"Yeah, and he's suddenly going to love clinic duty too." Chase added mockingly.

"All I'm saying is House should be able to do whatever he wants without us breathing down his neck. He's a big boy now Cameron." Foreman insisted.

"I was just curious, that's all." Cameron said and plopped down in her chair at the table in a mood. Chase and Foreman exchanged looks before shrugging and going back to reading their magazines.

A few moments later the phone in House's office began to ring. Cameron looked up to see if Foreman or Chase would answer it and sighed with disgust as they ignored the ringing. She pushed herself up from the table throwing each of them "Cuddy worthy" glares and answered the phone.

"Hello, Dr. Gregory House's office. This is Dr. Cameron."

All her reply was heavy breathing followed by a faint giggle in the background so Cameron tried again. "Hello, is anyone there?"

"This is the voice of doom speaking." The familiar voice boomed.

"House is that you?" Foreman and Chase glanced up surprised and approached the office; Cameron put the phone on speaker.

"How are my little ducklings doing without their mama swam?" House asked.

"Are you implying _you_ are _our_ mother swan?" Chase questioned mockingly.

"Yes, just as a mama swan guides her ducklings through I life, I guide you." House replied in a far too wholesome voice.

"House are you high?" Foreman asked.

"Actually I'm wasted."

Cameron couldn't contain her curiosity a moment longer, "Where are you?"

"You haven't already found out?"

"Wilson won't tell us." Chase replied.

"Wow, for once Wilson managed to keep his mouth shut." House exclaimed surprised.

"You haven't answered her question House," Foreman stated. Cameron and Chase stared at Foreman with smug looks on their faces, he shrugged his shoulders. "What I'm interested now.'

"Why weren't you interested before?" House questioned.

"Because for the last few minutes, while Chase and Cameron had been listening to you, I have heard a female voice in the background that sounds completely wasted."

"You've got a woman with you?" Cameron asked anxiously.

"It's probably a hooker," Chase murmured and was about to leave the room in a huff when a very recognizable voice floated from the speaker.

"House look no hands!" All three of them paused when they heard the voice, and then the sudden click of the phone told them that House had hung up.

* * *

Cuddy was now balancing on the railings of a foot bridge over a small pond. House limped his way over to her and acted like he was going to push her in, but really he was making sure she didn't fall in.

"Who were you on the phone with?" Cuddy asked, walking a bit faster just in case House decided that he would push her in.

"Cuddy slow down a bit," Cuddy turned around, startled by the sentiment and House quickly changed his statement from caring into cheeky. "Wouldn't want to fall in and give me a lovely view of the ladies."

He had purposely not answered her question. To be honest it was meant to be a stupid drunk prank and he regretted calling them now. One it wasn't very interesting and now for sure his team knew he was with Cuddy.

"I won't fall in I'm invincible!" Cuddy's yelling brought House out of his thoughts. Cuddy was making House worried with her jumping up and down. So he took the handle of his cane, wrapped it around her waist and pulled her down off the railings.

"Until you're more sober, no Wonder Woman for you." House announced becoming slightly more sober as time wore on.

Cuddy stuck out her tongue at House but daren't get back on the railings. Instead she walked at his side, trying to match his long strides.

* * *

The trio looked at the phone in amazement, none of them quite brave enough to break the awkward silence.

"Anyone else find that voice eerily familiar?" Chase finally asked.

"It could have been any woman. For all we know she was some random woman House got drunk with and took her home and," Foreman was saying when Cameron interrupted him.

"It was Cuddy." Chase glanced at Cameron confused by her tone of voice.

"But Cuddy's in London, on vacation." Chase stated.

"Yeah, so where do you think House is then? Don't you think it's a coincidence that Cuddy and House, who never take vacations, are taking one at the exact same time?" Cameron pointed out.

"What they do in their spare time is none of our business." Foreman uttered but Cameron wasn't listening.

"I bet that's what Wilson was hiding." Cameron thought out loud and then dashed out of the room. Foreman looked over to a now pissed off Chase.

"I thought she was supposed to be with you?" He asked.

"Yeah I thought so too." Chase angrily replied.

* * *

"Do you know how long it's been since I've had sex?" Cuddy asked House. He turned to face her, flabbergasted at what she just said. For once he didn't have a comeback. When House didn't reply she went on. "It's been almost a year! A year! It's because of this stupid baby obsession of mine, you know trying to find the right guy, because like you said, genes matter. But that's over now, I've moved on." Cuddy announced with an over-confident smile.

"Yeah right, people don't move on. They simply forget things. it's the brain's way of protecting the mind. If you forget things, you can't feel the pain from them anymore."

"Well, whether I've moved on or not I'm done trying. I'm sick of all the heartache it has caused and so to celebrate, I'm deciding to have a fling with the first attractive guy I can." Cuddy said giving House a sly look.

"Do you really think that's a good idea? You're drunk, you're not thinking straight. Think about it Cuddy, are you really ready to give up your dream, giving up ever getting the chance of becoming a mother, how can you?" House asked.

"The same way you gave up on humanity. It just hits you one day that all of your expectations," Cuddy paused to look at House, he paused walking and glanced back at Cuddy waiting for her to go on.

"Is this some lame plot device to have me coming back for more?"

Without thinking Cuddy approached House and flung her arms around his neck. She kissed him deeply, thanking God that she was drunk enough that her mind was too paralyzed to scold her. Suddenly his hands were on her face and he was kissing back. The touch of him sent shivers down her spine. Her hands wandered up into his hair and grabbed a hold, trying desperately to grasp onto reality. Everything was in overdrive, her senses all so dominant that they seemed to cancel each other out, until all she could feel was the sensation of their lips together and his arms around her.

But after a few seconds House pulled away from Cuddy, he hobbled back from her, avoiding her eyes, "I won't be your fling. If you want to have sex just to have sex, fine. But I don't do pity sex."

Cuddy watched him limp away and suddenly felt very empty and sober, his last words piercing through her.

* * *

Wilson looked up from his sandwich. A loud knock had interrupted his lunch. He saw it was Cameron and realized it was too late to hide. So instead he waved her in.

"Did you know that House was in London with Cuddy?" Cameron accused.

Wilson pushed his sandwich aside; he knew it would be a long time before he got back around to eating it.

**Sorry for it being such a long wait, I hope this isn't a dissapointment! Had a great time on my trip! Thanks for reading and all the wonderful comments!**


	7. Chapter 7

* * *

**Two Americans in London**

**Chp 7: It happened one night**

**Alright I would just like to apologize for the wait for this chapter. I had a lot of things going on in my life that needed some focusing on. Not to mention that I was having incredible writer's block for this chaper. I had three different versions of this chapter, one with House fake proposing to Cuddy even! I just want to say I'm sorry and i hope this won't happen again. Thank you all for being patient with me and for being devoted readers. I tried to make this one longer and have actual Huddy action in it for everyone!**

Cuddy woke up with a pounding headache and felt very dizzy. She moaned when she sat up and the whole world flipped before her eyes. Desperately grasping for something to steady her as she got up, Cuddy found herself feeling nauseous and decided she would self-medicate. After a shower and some Advil, Cuddy felt much better and began to get dressed. As she was looking for a certain pair of high heels, the previous night's exploits suddenly hit her.

"Shit!" She exclaimed as she remembered leaving those expensive 'hooker' shoes on the side of the road.

"Shit!" She exclaimed again as she remembered House's phone call and finally had enough alcohol out of her system to deduce who he had called.

"Shit!" She exclaimed for a third time as she remembered the proposition she made to House last night. Her stomach dropped as she remembered House's last words to her, "I don't do pity sex." The words had hurt but she secretly thanked House for not taking advantage of her. But all the same she was not looking forward to seeing him this morning; maybe she would put it off until this afternoon. Her stomach rumbled loudly in protest.

"Shit!" She exclaimed one last time.

Cuddy decided she would grab some fruit from the hotel buffet to satisfy her demanding stomach. She entered the dining room and made her way to the fruit bar, but was stopped when she noticed the overflowing glory of the pastry section. Her stomach gurgled happily in response to the donuts and croissants so much so that Cuddy was left standing in between the two tables desperately trying to decide if the calories were worth the delight.

"Go with the jelly donut, I like my woman with a bit of meat on them," House stated as he came up behind her.

Cuddy froze, God Dammit how'd he get so close without her realizing he was there. She smiled sweetly at House, grabbed the jelly donut off the table and took an overly aggressive bite out of the jelly donut before walking away from House.

"Cuddy, wait up," House called out to her and surprisingly she stopped her brisk walk and waited for him to catch up.

"I don't want to talk about last night," Cuddy announced.

"Don't worry I won't let anyone know about your little crush on me,"

"I was drunk and…..and desperate,"

"That's not how you put it last night,"

"Last night I would have slept with your cane if…" Cuddy paused noticing a reproachful elderly couple throwing her dirty looks; she narrowed her eyes at House and continued her brisk walk towards the exit of the hotel, pausing only to throw away the remains of the donut.

"Come on admit it Cuddy, I drive you crazy with desire." House insisted following up close behind.

"Oh you drive me crazy all right. Mentally insane addicts are just my type." Cuddy replied sarcastically pushing open the door and exiting the hotel, purposely letting it fall back in House's face.

"Great because anal, fire-breathing bosses are mine," House retorted finally pushing open the door to the exit.

"Really I thought your type were boyishly handsome oncologists."

House let Cuddy walk away a smile spreading on his lips, how could he top that?

Cuddy decided she needed some time away from House. Every time they were together she felt the pull of him getting stronger, last night had been a close call. The thing was that Cuddy, no matter how many times she was furious, irritated and morally outraged with House, she still could not help the powerful core attraction she had for him. This attraction was a very dangerous thing; he was a very dangerous thing. Gregory House was not a predictable man, he was a gambler, a risk taker, but she was done with taking risks. She'd lied last night, she wasn't done with the baby hope, and it was just a drunken attempt to get laid. Or was it? It was the dam attraction, she didn't want to have a fling with just anybody, she wanted him. But she knew House couldn't be what she wanted him to be, he knew it too. So he was a distraction, a dream, a danger. It was fine at the hospital because she many more diversions to keep her busy and many excuses to keep him at bay. But here there was nothing and if she didn't get some space between them she was going to jump him.

So she rented a car and planned on spending the day doing some picturesque sight seeing in the country side.

House smirked to himself, how could Cuddy have known him for so long and have no idea that Gregory House never leaves things alone.

It wasn't hard to break into Cuddy's rental car, he secretly thanked Foreman for his delinquent past, those tricks really came in handy for House. House got himself situated in the back seat of the car and lied down, hoping Cuddy would have no need to look into the back seat. He reached into his pocket for his Vicodin and noticed that he was really running low, his time was running out. Upon seeing the number of Vicodin left in the container, House estimated how long he could go without another pill. He deemed a few more hours and put the bottle back into his pocket, this way he could extend his time left.

Cuddy threw her purse into the backseat of the car and got into the car, she sighed contently. Yes this was the answer a nice relaxing drive with no House. She'd have time to think. She pulled out of the hotel parking lot and turned on the radio.

House laid very still, purse in face and was now breathing in the smell of new leather. His head hurt and he was very suspicious that whatever Cuddy kept in her bag had close kinship to bricks. He was going to complain about her purse when his ears were treated to something special.

"L, is for the way you look, at me. O, is for the only one, I see." Cuddy was singing along to the Nat King Cole classic complete with arm movements and butt wiggles against the seat. It took all of House's self control to stop from bursting out laughing.

"E, is even more than anyone that you adore and Love is all that I can give to you." House joined in as he popped up from the back seat. Cuddy jumped in surprise and the car swerved a bit.

"House!" Cuddy yelled. She quickly turned the radio off, feeling the swift flush of embarrassment flooding her cheeks.

"Hey don't stop, I was enjoying your tone deaf singing." House was saying as he clambered into the passenger seat beside Cuddy. She only gave a glare as a response and focused again on driving.

House nodded awkwardly and let some time pass in silence before trying again.

"So, where are we going boss?"

Cuddy still did not answer but House could see by her facial expression that she was trying very hard not to explode.

"You can't ignore me forever, I have ways of making you talk," House said and took a big breath, "99 bottles of Vicodin on the wall, 99 bottles of Vicodin, take on down," House was cut short by Cuddy arm thrown across his body.

"Stop," Cuddy demanded.

"That's more like it. You know while I was back there, I got a chance to look into your purse."

Cuddy took her eyes off the road in shock, "You looked in my purse?"

"What it was practically thrown at me!"

"I didn't know you were there."

"What interested me though was why the Dean of Medicine had pamphlets for," House used his cane to hook Cuddy's purse handle and bring it up to him. Then he fished in the purse for the pamphlets, "Practicing as a GP," House finished triumphantly waving the pamphlets in the air.

"They must have fallen in by mistake," Cuddy muttered turning her eyes back to the road.

"Oh no they didn't, you have them in your purse for a reason, now spill it."

Cuddy sighed defeated, "It's looking out for the future."

"The future? Are you planning on giving up your position of "Mistress of Princeton Plainsboro?"

"It's just in case,"

"Just in case what?" House probed once more.

"Just in case I have a baby." Cuddy finished. Just in case she had a baby, what was that supposed to mean.

"In case you have a baby?" House asked.

"House its only an "If scenario," now will you leave it alone?"

House didn't like the sound of that idea. He wanted Cuddy to have a baby, it would make her happy and it was nice seeing her happy. But if it took her away from the hospital, he would have no reason to bother her, no connection no reason to be a part of her life. House's brow furrowed and his thigh began to throb. He took out his Vicodin bottle almost as a safety blanket, no he did not like that idea at all.

"Where was the last place you saw them Cuddy?" House asked, his frustration growing.

"I told you, I left them in my purse. Someone has to have taken them!"

"Who would have taken the keys to this bunch of crap?" House stated kicking the side of the car. House and Cuddy had stopped at a rest stop to go to the bathroom. When Cuddy returned to the car, she found that her keys were missing.

"How am I supposed to know?" Cuddy's voice getting louder as her frustration grew as well.

"Are you sure you didn't leave them somewhere?"

"No I distinctly remember," Cuddy was saying when a young attendant approached them.

"I'm sorry, is something the matter?"

Cuddy turned to him, desperate, "Yes someone has stolen the keys to our car,"

"Are you sure you haven't left them somewhere, the bathroom perhaps?" The attendant suggested.

"Of course she didn't leave them in the bathroom," House spat back. Cuddy turned to look at House in amazement; just two seconds ago he had suggested the same thing.

"Well I'm sorry, the best I can do for you is to look after your car for you while you get in touch with your car company. There's a hotel up the way a little bit. Its late why don't you stay there? We'll look after your car, we've got security cameras." The attendant added the last bit in the hopes of soothing the troubled customers.

Cuddy looked over to House who gave her a skeptical look. But seeing no other option he shrugged his shoulders and asked, "How far away is the hotel?"

"Oh about a mile away, not to bad."

"Great," House announced sarcastically looking over at Cuddy who was feeling guilty as hell.

After a good 2 hours of walking, ("1 mile my ass") House and Cuddy finally managed to reach the hotel.

"Crap," Cuddy exclaimed as they reached the front desk.

"What now?" House asked, grumpy after all of the walking.

"I didn't bring hardly any money, I wasn't expecting staying over-night." Cuddy moaned.

"You must have brought credit cards?"

"Nothing, I left everything in the safe."

"Great time for your paranoia to kick in."

"Well how about you, I don't see you offering any money."

House was silent, he too had brought barely any money. It turned out between them, out of the miscellaneous change they could find scattered in coat pockets that they only had enough for one room with one bed.

* * *

"Well this is going to be comfy," House announced sarcastically as he slowly lowered himself onto the moldy sofa, "If I die of Fungus, then I know who I'm coming back to haunt." House teased. He winced and smacked his fist against the arm of the sofa when he moved his bad leg at a funny angel. Desperately his fingers fumbled inside his pockets to produce his Vicodin bottle. To hell with his rationing and stuck two in his mouth, immediately savoring its sweet release. He hadn't been anticipating such a long walk.

Cuddy watched all of this from the bed and felt horrible. Not only had she lost the keys to the car and made him walk all the way to the hotel, but now he was going to sleep on the sofa? No way!

"House switch with me, your leg needs rest. Take the bed," Cuddy pleaded.

"No I want you to have the bed,"

"You choose now to act like the gentleman? Come on, I insist you take the bed."

"I'm not being a gentleman, I'm being a martyr this way I can bug you about this in the future." House began to make himself comfortable on the sofa. Cuddy knew he needed to get his leg in a better position or he'd be in a massive amount of pain.

"House you don't have the Vicodin to withstand the pain tomorrow, I call your bluff."

House did not respond, instead he closed his eyes. This was no bluff, Cuddy began to panic. Suddenly an idea dawned on her. "We could share," She suggested a little surprised at herself.

House blinked vacantly at her but moved quickly before she could change her mind. He got into the bed and shuffled to the farthest side to let her in.

"If you try anything," Cuddy warned before getting into the bed. They both turned their backs to each other, both uncomfortable but neither daring to disturb the other. But soon it was too much for Cuddy and she had to turn on her side, in process of doing that she grazed House's toes.

"Dam Cuddy, you have cold feet," House whispered. Cuddy was now on the side facing House's face and found remarkably she had much more room.

"Sorry," She muttered, she closed her eyes but she could still feel his gaze upon her.

"It's been a long time since we were like this," House stated.

Cuddy opened her eyes and for a second caught House off-guard with a look full of so much affection that Cuddy had to smile.

"Yeah it has been," Cuddy said, suddenly the past was all too vivid again. The warmth of their bodies mingling together, the rough touch of his skin beneath her, the visions made Cuddy uncomfortable and she began to turn away from House when his hand stopped her.

"Did you really mean you would leave if you got a baby?" Cuddy stopped and stared into his eyes, it was a rare moment of vulnerability for House. Not comfortable with answering the question, she asked her own.

"Are you still not up to pity sex?"

"No, I don't do pity sex," House answered, avoiding Cuddy's eyes

"Good," Cuddy replied, "Because the last thing I need right now is a fling." She announced before pressing herself against House and kissing him. Immediately she felt his hands drop down to her waist playing with the bottom of her shirt. She put her hands against the stubble on his cheeks, rubbing them back and forth, delighting in the rough texture.

Cuddy woke the next morning to the snoring of Gregory House. His arms were around her naked body and her legs wrapped up in his. Funny, she thought, she had never pegged him as the type for cuddling. She cast her eyes downward to the floor where the pile of their discarded clothing was and noticed a flash of silver as the sunlight peering from the window hit a metallic object. She slowly got out of bed and bent down to House's jean pocket where the flash seemed to come from. Cuddy withdrew the source of the flashes from the pocket and found herself looking at the keys to the rental car. Cuddy plopped to the ground in surprise; he had had them all along! She got up to wake him when she was reminded of his question from last night.

"Did you really mean you would leave if you got a baby?"

Instead she gathered up her own clothes and headed to the bathroom to clean up.


	8. Chapter 8

**Two Americans in London**

**CHP 8: Truth tellings**

**Alright here comes to grovelling time. lol I'm even suprised if people are going to read this because it has been soooo long since I updated. Literally it must have been months, I'M SO SORRY. The main reason I haven't posted was once again a lack of time and a massive writer's block. I want to apologize to all of you a thousand times for the wait, and hopefully I'll be mor on track from now on with my updates. Hopefully you guys will like the chapter, thank you for being such devoted readers!**

Cameron lay in her bed thinking about the conversation she had with Wilson.

"House and Cuddy are in London together?" Wilson asked trying to seem innocent.

Unfazed Cameron went on, "Why didn't you tell us?"

"Maybe because it's none of our business."

"I think we have a right to know where our boss is."

"Doesn't he have a right to privacy," Wilson lectured, "What he does in his spare time is his business and we should respect that."

"But its not like he planned it or anything, he just up and left, "Cameron paused, "Its not in his spare time its on our working time."

Wilson shrugged his shoulders not wanting to respond, Cameron went on,"Come on Wilson what do you think we'll do, gossip like high school girls and spread it around the hospital?"

"Well let's just say you don't handle secrets well Cameron," Wilson replied putting his hands up in the air defensively.

Cameron folded her arms in annoyance, "I don't withhold information from people when I think its right to tell them. People deserve to know the truth."

"Not everyone likes the truth, "Wilson tried to read Cameron's face,"Which brings us to why you're here."

Cameron gave Wilson a puzzled look and he went on, "Pining after House is a waste of time Cameron."

"I'm over House," Cameron sighed annoyed that this always seemed to pop up.

"Then why does this bug you so much?"

Cameron turned in her bed to look at Chase who was fast asleep, his body rising and falling with his breathing patterns, "Why did it bug her?"

"What about Chase?" Wilson asked.

"What about Chase!" Cameron exclaimed defensively.

Yes what about Chase. Did he know, could be sense Cameron pulling away from him. Cameron sighed and turned away, guilt forcing her to look elsewhere. What was she going to do?

* * *

What was Cuddy going to do? What had she done? Now that the glow of the previous night had worn away, her mind was already scorning her. What was she thinking? Sleeping with House was the very thing she had been trying to avoid doing and somehow had managed to find herself in bed with him, again! She sat in the moldy sofa across from the bed, absently twirling the keys in her hand and watching House as he slept. It was surreal watching him sleep. While awake, House made it his personal mission to put her in the worst mood possible, but now, watching him sleep, she felt at peace and a soft smile broke from her lips.

"Glad to see someone's pleased." House leered, sitting up in the bed, rubbing his eyes, slowly waking up.

Cuddy stopped twirling the keys and caught them in one hand, making a faint metallic clink as metal hit metal, just enough of a sound to gain House's attention.

"What have you got there?" House asked, eyes narrowing.

"Oh nothing," Cuddy said before dangling the keys from her fingers.

House was shocked she had found the keys but caught himself fast, "You found the keys? Let me guess, back jeans pocket?" House asked trying with all his might to sound reproachful.

Cuddy smiled evilly, got up from the sofa and made her way over to the bed. She leaned over House so her mouth was right by his ear. "As a matter of fact, yeah."

House shivered a bit as the warm air from her mouth trickled over his ear, "Next time I'll have pat you down if you don't search yourself properly."

"Aah Aah Aah," Cuddy scorned trailing a finger through his hair, "Did I say it was my jeans pocket?"

"I don't know let me check," House said letting his hands wander down to her waist only to be swatted away by Cuddy's hands.

"You idiot," Cuddy muttered standing up and away from House's reach. "My rental car company is going to kill me, not to mention the stress you must have put your leg through." Cuddy sighed.

"Nothing that a few Vicodin can't solve," House smirked reaching over to the bedside table where his Vicodin bottle lay. As he poured out the Vicodin onto his hand Cuddy noticed the small amount.

"Running kind of low there."

"Yeah I've noticed that, thanks," House said sarcastically.

Cuddy sat down at the foot of the bed, "Why did you go through all of the trouble just to sleep with me? After all, if you wanted sex I had offered it," Cuddy was saying when House cut her off.

"Anything to eat? I'm starving."

Cuddy gave up and tossed the keys and his pants at him, "Get dressed, we'll pick up something along the way." When House fingers the keys, "Yeah, you're driving."

* * *

Cameron rubbed her eyes as she entered the diagnostics room. She was tired from a lack of sleep and enormous amounts of guilt that was pressing on her mind. She didn't even see Foreman silently drinking coffee and reading a file.

"We've got a case." Foreman muttered as he blew on his next sip of coffee.

Cameron turned around wearily, "Good morning as well." She plopped down into the seat across from him and put her head on the desk. Foreman put down the file and looked at her interested.

"Rough night?" He asked with an eyebrow raised.

"I couldn't sleep." She muttered, head still resting in her arms.

"Something on your mind?" Foreman asked, smirking a bit because he already knew that answer.

Cameron turned her head to give Foreman a glare, "No, our air conditioning sucks and I was hot."

"Chase seems to have gotten a good sleep; he's not even in yet." Foreman pointed out.

"Have you decided to fill in for House since he's gone? You've got the obnoxiousness dead on." She muttered annoyed.

"Don't get so defensive," Foreman said lightly as he handed her the file, "20 year old with a low white count but immune system in complete working order."

"Could just be his white count is lower than most people." Cameron replied studying the file.

"True, but I think the abnormally low platelets suggest something might be wrong."

"Have we considered Leukemia?"

"Leukemia doesn't cause heart attacks." Foreman replied, indicating she should read further down the file. "The patient was emitted after experiencing a grand maul seizure followed by a heart attack." Just as Foreman was saying this Chase rushed into the room.

"Cameron, you didn't wake me." He said annoyed, Foreman turned to Cameron interested to see what she would have to say.

Cameron ignored Chase, "What's the patient history like?"

* * *

Cuddy was sitting in the car very quiet, seeming to be making silent decisions about something or other. House was feeling uncomfortable and tried to make conversation.

"I found it a little unsettling that they served tongue at the restaurant, puts me off making out for a while."

"Yeah," she said absently, obviously not paying attention in the slightest, House tried again.

"I was half expecting them to bring out haggis after that."

"That's in Scotland." Cuddy replied looking out of the window and gazing at the flocks of sheep on the hillside. House was getting annoyed, he didn't like being ignored.

"Are you going to tell me what's wrong, or are you just going to sit there like a moody teenager?" House asked, watching the road.

"I'm just thinking," she murmured, not taking her attention away from the sheep.

"Well I could have guessed that." House replied, his annoyance growing. What the hell was so fascinating about sheep?

Cuddy didn't respond to him. That was it, House looked at the other side of the road, making sure there were no cars coming and turned the steering wheel of the car so that it swerved into the other lane. They were driving on the wrong side of the road.

"House what the hell are you doing?!" Cuddy yelled, eyes widening as she looked for any approaching cars.

"Oops, I guess I forgot what side of the road we're supposed to be on." House replied innocently.

"Are you trying to kill us?" Cuddy asked desperate, her hands fumbling as she tried to turn the steering wheel back, House swatted her hands away.

"I get a little suicidal when I'm ignored." House said mockingly.

"Get us back on the other side of the road before I kill you." Cuddy yelled at him.

"Not until you tell me what you were thinking about."

Cuddy looked at him like he was insane. "Why does it matter so much?"

"You tell me, you refused to talk." House said keeping one eye on Cuddy and one on the road.

"House, I'm going to give you to the count of 3 to get us back on the other side of the road." Cuddy threatened.

"Or what? You'll give me clinic hours?"

Cuddy was exasperated and looked to the road again panicked. "House you're willing to risk both of our lives just to get me to talk to you?"

"I find playing hardball normally gets people to do what I want." House said pressing on the accelerator slightly, just to mess with her.

Cuddy gasped as the car sped forward, "House!" Neither of them noticed that it had begun to rain.

"You can end this Cuddy; it's completely up to you."

"For God's sake House! I was thinking about the sex!" She screamed.

* * *

Chase sat in House's office, tossing the tennis ball against the walls, thoroughly annoyed. Each time the ball came back to his hand, he threw it harder, challengingly the ball to come back to hard, forcing him to miss it. His brow furrowed, his suspicious nature told him what was going on. For weeks he had a sinking feeling that Cameron was growing bored of their relationship, he tried everything. He brought her flowers, set up romantic candlelight dinners even tried changing up the sex a little, nothing seemed to work. He threw the ball again. This week, Cameron had shown more interest in something than he had seen in a long time. With House gone, Chase was being ignored, all of her attention focused on the missing maverick. He sighed harshly, and tossed the ball once more finally allowing it to go by him and smash into House's desk, causing papers and miscellaneous items on his desk to go flying. Cameron walked into the office and stared down puzzled by the mess.

"What happened?" She said file in hand, starting to bend down to pick up the mess.

"Bad coordination I guess." Chase replied.

Cameron gave him a skeptical look, "Kind of sad to rebel against House when he's not even here."

"Who said I'm rebelling, maybe I just suck with balls."

"Oh you don't suck with balls." Cameron replied cheekily, coming up with a pile of papers which she began to rearrange on the desk. Chase looked at her amazed.

"How do you know where each one goes?"

"Because I put them there." Cameron said matter of factly.

"You arrange his work?"

"Otherwise he'd never get it done." She said defensively.

"You don't think you pay a little too much attention to the man who isn't your boyfriend?" Chase asked moodily.

"The corticoid steroids didn't work, the patient's just dying faster now." She retorted dodging the question handing Chase the file.

* * *

The car had gone very quiet from Cuddy's outburst, neither one of them wanting to be the first person to speak. Finally it was Cuddy who broke the silence.

"Get the car onto the other side of the road." She muttered, pointing out of the window.

House obliged and pulled the car into the other lane, it slightly skidding from the wet surface of the road. Now that the moment had passed, Cuddy could feel her pulse returning to normal and looked at House.

"Are you the mute now?" She asked a little annoyed.

"I was thinking about the tongue again." House replied, eyes on the road.

"Oh god," Cuddy moaned, she looked away from House and back out the window.

"I meant from last night." He smirked and looked at her, upon hearing his response she turned to him with an eyebrow raised.

"You want to talk about it?" she asked surprised.

"Well if we don't it'll just be a repeat of last time, and all that pent up sexual frustration couldn't have been good for those wrinkles Cuddy."

She glared at House, "Why do you want to talk about it?"

"Would it be better if I never called you back?" House asked, getting a little nervous since the car was reacting slowly to his turning of the wheel.

"You never want to talk about anything."

"I don't like lying."

"Why do you have to lie?" She asked and then noticed a sign on the side of the road, "Hey watch it, cattle crossing coming up." She pointed at the sign.

House nodded. "You can't have any meaningful conversations with somebody without lying, petting their ego."

"Why not just tell the truth?"

"People don't want to hear the truth." Cuddy felt her insides twist at what he had said, she became a little nervous at what was he was planning to say next.

"Must the truth always be so grim?"

"There's a reason it's called the "cold, hard truth"."

"Would you lie to me?" Cuddy asked the question that she found her head was screaming, she looked towards him vulnerable and looking for answers. She unconsciously held her breath awaiting his answer.

House turned to look at her, taking his eyes off of the road for a second. He stared into her blues, taking in the desperate stare so openly displayed for him. He avoided her eyes, "yes," he muttered.

Cuddy bent her head for a second, feeling miserable before looking up again, she saw House studying her intensely not focusing on the road. Her heart starting beating fast as she heard a loud "MOO," and frantically she cast her eyes towards to road.

"HOUSE!" She screamed, he looked to the road and tried urgently to turn the wheel but to no avail. Cuddy remembered seeing the black mass smack into the front of the car, the thudding and smashing as the body toppled over the roof about them. Shards of glass flying everywhere, metal bending in and cutting into their flesh, blood seeping from all directions, the car spinning as House tried to regain control, and then…black.

* * *

Foreman knocked on Wilson's door causing Wilson to look up from his work.

"Yeah?" He asked looking at Foreman.

"Cameron found suspicious masses on the hypothalamus of the patient. We thought you should take a look." Foreman told Wilson.

"You don't need me to diagnose cancer, just get a biopsy."

"The patient won't let us near him; he refuses to accept the possibility of it being cancer."

Wilson sighed getting up from his chair, "You've come here to ask me to manipulate a patient into treatment? House has had a bad influence on you."

"The kid's scared, he wants to be discharged. Cameron can't calm him down. You're good at this sort of thing." Foreman said a little desperately.

"I just tell them the truth," Wilson stated quietly and followed Foreman out of the room.

**Again lol I apologize!**


	9. Chapter 9

Two Americans in London chp 9

Mission Impossible

**Again thank you to all of my wonderful readers, I liked all the WTF moments you must have had last chapter, and hopefully more will come lol. Maybe I'll have Cameron attacked by a bear or something next time. Anyways here's the next one, hopefully I'll be able to keep them regularily updated like this was. :)**

House drifted in and out of consciousness, sometimes his blurred vision would come back and at other times it wouldn't. He would see visions of grey and red and black, undistinguishable images flashing in his mind. He would remember things one minute and then physically feel the memories slipping from his fragile mind the next. It took the sirens of emergency vehicles approaching to pull him out of the limbo he had been in. He awoke groggily and was amazed at to what he woke up to; he was trapped in carnage of metal. Almost like a thorn bush, jagged edges all around him, he couldn't help but wonder if this was what a car looked like after a monster trucking. House sat very still, suddenly feeling the slight, cold point of a bent door of the car sticking into the side of his head. He adjusted his position, he noticed there was no pain when he moved, well no new pain. He looked at his fingers, covered in blood, but in too much of an excess to be his own since he could find no source of injury on his body. House suddenly felt a drop of blood fall down onto his head, and looked up to see the roof bent down towards them, ripped in some places and blood leaking from a source above which he could only assume was the cow they had hit. House checked out the damage of the car, smashed to pieces, windows' glass gone, with few pieces remaining in the empty holes, like the sturdy soldiers he saw at Buckingham palace, even with the red uniform to match. House sighed disgusted, still a little confused and turned in his seat, it was then he saw her. Sitting beside him, Cuddy lay unconscious, her head tipped forward into her chest causing the slight puddles of blood around her mouth to slowly trickle down her chin. House panicked when he realized the cow had walked in front of her side of the car. She had taken most of the hit; it explained the lack of injury on his part. One of the metal strands that held up the roof of the car had bent backwards and snapped due to the force of a cow falling on top of it. The point of the now bent metal spike had pierced through Cuddy's abdomen, and she sat there slightly impaled, mouth hanging open, a wet patch steadily spreading its darkness across her stomach. House immediately went to her, ignoring the pain as his forehead scraped the sharp edges of bent metal of the roof. House felt her pulse, Cuddy was cold, very cold but he could feel a slight pulse. She was still there. House could hear the sirens going off all around him, and heard the sound of a saw being charged up, it seemed they were going to be cut out of their metallic prison. House held Cuddy's hand which caused her to stir.

"House," she whimpered in utter terror upon seeing her stomach, she clenched his hand hard.

House licked his lips, realizing how dry they were, "This puts me off Hamburgers for a while." He joked trying to keep Cuddy awake.

She stared at the bloody mess that was their rental car, "This is going to be hell…..ugh…. explaining to the rental car company." She said through her teeth, trying to stay brave, trying to stay awake.

"Probably should have gotten that insurance." House lectured, smiling weakly.

"I wasn't expecting to be attacked by a cow." Cuddy muttered wincing and taking deep breaths, they both turned their head to the roof as they begun to hear scraping on the roof indicating that the cow was being dragged off.

House saw her pain and fished out his Vicodin putting the last one into her mouth, "Tastes just like sweethearts."

Cuddy swallowed the pill gratefully and then her face changed to a determined grimace as she took two hands to the spike, her eyes widening as she slowly pulled the spike out of her body.

"God Cuddy," House gasped harshly, "You're making me and my leg look like wimps right now."

Cuddy was breathing heavily, she pressed her hands to her stomach to stop the bleeding when she realized her hands weren't enough she pressed House's hands there as well, letting off a gasp of pain when he lay his own on too rough. "You've never had a…..high tolerance for pain." Cuddy spat out, wheezing heavily between each word.

* * *

House sat in his hospital bed nervous and highly strung. He wanted to be in the Pre-op room waiting for the news of Cuddy's surgery, but some dumb ass doctors had run him through a series of tests, he could have told them would turn out okay, to make sure House was in perfect health. Of course he wasn't healthy and now he was forced to sit here and wait, even though his unhealthiness had nothing to do with the accident, while Cuddy might come out of her anesthesia any moment and he would kill himself to miss a chance to see her in a bare backed hospital gown. House shook his head, that wasn't going to happen. He gingerly lowered himself onto the floor, a little sore in most places, the effects of shock wearing off slightly; he grabbed a hold of his cane and began to limp cautiously out of his hospital room in search of information. He didn't get very far before he saw a nurse and realized with his hospital gown he would stick out like a sore thumb. His eyes scanned the area around him looking for a potential costume.

* * *

Cuddy gasped holding onto her stomach, slowly a mask was placed over her mouth and nose and she was told to breathe in. She was scared, what if she didn't wake up? She didn't breath in the anesthesia at first, not really wild about the fact she would have to go under. It was different now that she was the patient, she didn't like putting such faith in another human being. She felt another stab of pain and realized it was this or nothing, she started to count down indicating that she was breathing the anesthesia in. "One…..two……three………………four……………………"

* * *

House stepped out of the janitor's closet and looked down at the apparel he was wearing, a shirt and tie with slacks and of all things a white lab coat. He frowned in disgust. He was almost glad he picked this guy to knock out with his cane; the prep deserved it based on fashion choice alone. The white lab coat felt restricting and out of place on him, but he figured he needed it. Closing the door cautiously behind him, House pinned on the security access card onto the pocket of his white lab coat and began walking towards what he thought was the way to the surgery.

"Open up," House muttered annoyed, how he had managed to get stuck in clinic duty even when he didn't work in the hospital evaded him.

The patient did as he told her to do and was surprised when instead of coming closer and taking a look at her mouth, House remained where he was sitting by the door, peering out to see if anyone was there.

"What are you doing?" She asked annoyed.

"Scouting out the area," House replied.

"For what?"

"Hospital staff."

"Why?"

"Why ask so many questions?" House said turning around with eyebrows raised.

"Why not do your job?" She replied.

"I don't work here." The patient looked at him amazed as he went back to the door.

"Why are you here then?"

"A nurse told me to come in here," House replied.

The patient was confused, "I thought you said you didn't work here."

"I don't."

"Then why do they think you do?"

"They're nurses," House replied with a 'duh' look on his face.

"Can I ask for a real doctor?" The patient said getting up from the table, House put his cane against her chest to make her sit down again. "Heh!" she muttered glaring at House.

"You're not going anywhere," He muttered.

She frowned, "And why not?"

"Seizures are not something you can just ignore missy!" House scorned.

"But I don't," The patient was trying to say.

* * *

House stood on the corner of the corridor, sneakily poking his head around to watch to see the signal. The patient walked up to one of the doctors manning Cuddy's room and started talking to them. House 

had paid her to fake a seizure in a few moments, telling her the symptoms she would need to know so that it would seem believable. House wasn't sure if Cuddy's doctors were his doctors, but he didn't fancy being hauled back to his room when he was so close to his prize. It wasn't often he'd get to see Cuddy's ass framed so nicely. Suddenly the girl fell onto the ground and House knew his cue. Limping quickly past the doctors busy with the seizing girl, House slipped into Cuddy's room.

* * *

Cuddy winced against the drugs that were making her mind hazy and she opened her eyes weakly, flinching against the bright lights of the room. Once her vision stopped spinning she glanced up to see House leaning in a corner of the room, arms folded, watching her. Their eyes met for a moment, before Cuddy broke the silence.

"Nice to see you've found a corner to brood in," Cuddy muttered, closing her eyes slightly she was tired.

House stood still, making no attempt to come closer, "I've noticed girls find brooding sexy." Cuddy rolled her eyes even though they were closed, she sighed and propped her head up, turning it to look at him properly and opened her eyes.

"What the hell are you wearing?" She asked confused looking at House's clothes.

"A lab coat, I'm told I should wear one more often." House replied unfolding his arms and giving her the full view.

"Do I even want to know?" Cuddy asked weakly, she moved slightly and felt the restraints the bandages had on her stomach. It was uncomfortable.

"It's called espionage Cuddy," House said limping a little closer.

"Who are you now, 00cane?" Cuddy replied, closing her eyes again.

"Come on Cuddy, you know the lab coat turns you on." House teased, finally sitting down in the chair by her bed.

Cuddy sighed and tried to drift off again, "Thank you," she muttered.

"I always thank the people that tried to kill me too," House replied.

Cuddy smiled feebly, "For doing whatever the hell you did to get here."

House noticed her closed eyes and allowed himself to smile back at her, knowing she wouldn't see him. An awkward cough came from the entrance to her room, there was a doctor standing there holding Cuddy's file.

"Please don't say, do you want the good news or the bad news," House muttered which caused Cuddy to open her eyes. House saw a flicker of panic flash in her eyes, but she kept still.

"There were some complications with the surgery," The doctor muttered.

"Complications?" Cuddy asked, her breath hitching in her throat making her voice higher than she had intended it to be. House looked at Cuddy, he frowned hiding his concern.

"We were able to have enough skin grafts to sew you together and have everything in working order." The doctor said trying to soften the blow.

"When I said don't say good news and bad news, implying that in your conversation was also out. What happened?" House asked, never showing it but almost as nervous as Cuddy was.

"The angle the spike drove in forced it to cut through your uterus, and with the force of the cow smashing into the car, and the time it remained there along with the many other," the doctor paused realizing he wasn't being much help, "we left the uterus where it was for fear of causing you to hemorrhage, but I'm afraid its damaged beyond repair."

House's eyes widened, he looked at Cuddy understanding what this meant. "We wouldn't recommend any more babies, we're not sure what could happen, an attempt could be fatal," The doctor finished.

Cuddy sat there shocked, she stared at the doctor confused, she picked up on the only thing her mind could focus on since it was starting to shut down, "any more babies?" she asked softly.

House cringed and the doctor realizing his mistake came closer, "I'm sorry ma'am." She shifted uncomfortably not liking the attention.

"I'm tired," she whispered, turning on her side, ignoring the pain but trying to avoid looking at both of their eyes. The concerned eyes of a doctor who had done everything he could, and the guilty eyes she could feel boring into her skull, boring into her mind.


	10. Chapter 10

Two Americans in London Chp 10

An Unfortunate Series of Events

**So here is the next one, I've been in a kind of angsty mood lately so I guess my story is suffering from it ;). Thanks to all of my readers, you're comments really make my day! I'm dedicating this particular chapter to two very good, equally obssesed Huddy friends: Babybell and Cuddles! Love you guys!**

House sat in the taxi cab, twirling his cell-phone in his hands, he was frowning. The frown gave the impression he was deep in thought, but really it was the product of sinking into self pity. His face twitched slightly when he thought about Cuddy, the way she had looked at him when she had woken up, the way she had refused to go with him. He stared out of the windows of the taxi, looking at the gray clouds that were shielding out the sun, somehow mirroring the expression that lay in Cuddy's eyes that morning. Her eyes seemed so empty of the flair they used to have, greyed, emotionless and utterly stoic, clouds of vacancy hiding the emotions House knew so well. He sighed harshly trying to block the conversation from his mind.

* * *

House limped into Cuddy's hospital room, holding a Mars Bar, hoping that chocolate was indeed the solution to all of women's problems. He came to her bedside and narrowed his eyes in pity as he looked at the small frame of hers, slowly rising and falling with each breath she took. He swallowed up his pride when the sudden wave of guilt hit him and he bent over to touch her leg softly to wake her up.

"I come bearings gifts," He said quietly.

Cuddy opened her eyes, she tried to smile but it came off as more of a grimace. "Gifts of chocolate, how well you know you woman psyche." She said sarcastically, she pushed herself up onto the pillows so she could see him better, refusing to allow the wince she wanted to make to come out.

"Cameron's been tutoring me." House replied, he handed her the Mars Bars and pulled up a chair to sit in. Cuddy placed the candy bar on the bedside table beside her, quietly refusing to eat it. She didn't say anything so House pressed on. "Not eating now? "

"Not hungry," she said simply.

"Starving yourself isn't the best idea Cuddy, kind of contradicts the doctors' orders."

"Who said I'm starving myself? Maybe I just don't want a candy bar right now." Cuddy said slowly.

House narrowed his eyes at her but dropped the conversation. They sat silently for a few seconds; he studied her, trying to deduce what was going through her brain. He could practically hear Wilson telling him to just ask her how she was, but that would be too simple. Cuddy seemed to be unaware of his intense stare. Her eyes were unfocused, she was looking at her hospital wristband but it was evident she was thinking about other things. She fingered the wristband lightly, it hurt to watch her and almost out of his own selfishness of not wanting to watch her like this anymore he broke the silence.

"There're worse things to lose," House muttered softly.

Cuddy stared up at him from the sort of trance she had been in, her eyes a dull shade of gray as opposed to the blue he was used to. "Please don't trivialize this." She muttered.

"I'm not, I'm merely pointing out-"Cuddy cut him off.

"I don't want your logic here or your reason, I want to be human. I want to delve in my own self pity. Aren't I entitled to that?"

"Self pity can only end in two ways. You feel worse about what has happened or you feel worse about yourself. It never works."

"You should take a leaf from your own book." Cuddy replied harsher than she had intended.

They sat silent for a few moments before House tried again. "Let's get out of here; you're perfectly healthy any idiot can see that."

"I don't want to leave." Cuddy replied.

"Come on I'll buy you an ice-cream if you're a good girl."

"I'm not going House." Cuddy replied, her voice strong. House tried to unhook one of the IV poles from her skin and she slapped his hand away, "I'm not one your patients you can just bully around."

"You really want to stay here? It's not going to do anything." House replied getting up.

"It'll give me time to think," Cuddy replied, turning on her back so she didn't have to look at him anymore.

"Think about what, your dead baby?"

Cuddy turned around as fast as she could, eyes flaring with anger, "Just get out House."

"You didn't even know about it, you didn't even have time to get attached." House said trying to make her understand.

Cuddy bit her bottom lip and looked away, "Please just go away," she pleaded softly.

House hurt and confused nodded his head gruffly and limped out the room.

* * *

"You pick now to call me?" Wilson said angrily.

"Didn't know I had a wife waiting at home," House replied, pulling his eyes away from the English countryside passing outside of the window.

"House you've been gone about a week now, and nothing. What the hell are you getting up to over there?"

"Cuddy's in the hospital," House replied, trying to sound very non-chalent.

"Well that explains why you called." Wilson muttered.

"What?"

"The only reason you called was for advice," Wilson replied knowingly.

"No, I also called to tell you we had sex."

"Before or after she was unconscious?"

"Ha ha very funny," House muttered.

"House," Wilson paused realizing he would have to help House out a little, "What happened?"

* * *

Cameron sat in the differential room, watching Wilson on the phone a little impatient; wanting to know what was going on.

"It could be an infection, spreading to his heart." Chase was saying when he turned to see Cameron not focusing at all; he poked her, "Cameron, the patient?"

Cameron turned around distracted, "Sorry," she murmured. "You think that's House on the phone?"

Foreman and Chase sighed profoundly. "What does House have anything to do with our patient?" Foreman asked annoyed.

Cameron turned in her seat to face Foreman, "Well I don't know, medical genius on the phone, dying patient. I thought you could connect the dots."

Chase grinned slightly at her comment, "She has a point."

Foreman sighed, "We can do this by ourselves, House will just call us idiots, give us the answer and we won't learn anything."

Cameron had turned back around again, "Wilson's doesn't look to happy, think its bad?"

Foreman threw his hands up in the air and went to go make himself a cup of coffee.

Chase turned in his seat to watch as well, "You sure this is just to get his medical opinion?"

"Jealously isn't attractive on you Chase." She muttered, watching as Wilson's face creased into a concerned frown. "Something has to have happened."

"Yeah, it couldn't just be that House is giving Wilson his usual dosage of crap." Foreman replied from the coffee machine.

"I think she's right Foreman, Wilson doesn't look to happy." Chase noticed as Wilson's free hand went to his hip, a sure sign of agitation.

"How do we even know that's its House?" Foreman asked. Both Chase and Cameron turned around in their seats giving him a look of amazement.

"Who else would it be?" Chase asked. Foreman sighed annoyed.

* * *

"Is she alright?" Wilson asked concerned.

"What do you think Sherlock?" House replied.

"God poor Cuddy," Wilson said still in shock, he rubbed the back of his head.

"She had a kid Wilson," House said, "I'm not sure how far along she was, the dumb ass thought she already knew."

"Its not like he's her doctor House." Wilson muttered defending the doctor. "What did she tell you?"

"Told me to leave," House said simply.

"What did you do?" Wilson sighed heavily.

"Why do assume I did something?" House said insulted.

"Cuddy wouldn't throw you out for no reason."

"Emotionally traumatized women through men out all the time, it's called divorce."

"Divorce only applies to married people," Wilson sighed, "Please tell me you didn't preach to her."

"I don't preach, you preach." House defended himself.

"You didn't call her an idiot did you?"

"I did not, I have more tact than that thank you very much," House paused uncomfortable, "I told her to move on."

"It's been what, a night?" Wilson said amazed at House's coldness.

"It won't help-"Wilson cut him off.

"House she's got to have some time before you just blow her away with reason," Wilson said a little angrily, he regained his composure a little, "Let her adapt, remember what it was like with your leg? It's like a piece of you is missing."

House didn't like to admit it, but Wilson was getting to him. "Be a comfort to her, don't be reasonable. Tell her everything is going to be ok."

"So lie," House replied.

"It's not necessarily lying House."

"It is if I'm still relating things to my leg." House snapped the cell phone shut.

* * *

Cameron saw Wilson shut his cell-phone slowly and wander back into the room, a frown indicating he was focusing on something. He looked up to see the three fellows looking at him with curiosity.

"Did you know that Skippy's is charging more for their dry cleaning?" Wilson said trying to cover up the phone call.

"What's going on?" Cameron asked.

"Nothing," Wilson replied.

"What's going on?" Cameron repeated.

"Uh, don't we have a patient?" Wilson asked.

"Thank you," Foreman announced and got up to read the symptoms off of the white board.

* * *

House arrived at his hotel room; he limped to the bed and laid down. He fingered his cell phone, weighing out the risks of another call. He reached into his pocket, for his recently refilled Vicodin bottle and popped two in his mouth; nothing like one addiction to feed another. Massaging his leg gently he picked up his cell-phone.

"Cuddy?" House asked into the cell phone, he heard her breathe a little uneasily but she didn't hang up.

"You don't have to talk. I just want you to listen."


	11. Chapter 11

Two Americans in London Chp 11

Breaking Points

**Thank you all again for your wonderful comments and to all of my wonderful readers, I'm glad you are enjoying my story. This time I tried to include some of the old humor, can't have House and Cuddy miserable for ever lol. oh and I realize how freakin annoying I'm making Cameron, but frankly I can't help it. Comments and critiscm are welcome :)**

"Pain has many different forms," House started, "Its one of those little ironic jokes in life because everyone's pain is different, because everyone is different." House muttered into the phone. He could hear Cuddy's breathing on the other end of the line, indicating she was still there and listening.

"So when people tell you they understand your misery or justify it, it may make them feel better, may make them feel like they've done you some sort of good, but in fact the misery hasn't gone away. In fact, their consoling makes you feel more isolated than ever." House explained with a slight edge to his voice as his fingers grazed over his sensitive skin.

"You felt isolated?" Cuddy's voice was barely a whisper.

"I thought you weren't planning on talking to me?" House asked. The phone fell silent again, and House sighed harshly as he continued, "Though everyone around you will install pity in you and try to help you move on, it's all too fast and by the time their pity is gone, you've barely begun to wrap your head around what has happened." House paused, trying to collect his thoughts, "Telling someone to move on is all those people can do for you, it's all they want to do for you, and they want what's best for you." House uttered the last bit with slight bitterness, the burning sensation the rubbing of his palm on his thigh was causing was spreading through his body and he gritted his teeth.

"It was what was best for you," Cuddy muttered in defense of herself.

"Who said we were talking about me?" House replied.

Cuddy grew annoyed, "Then what the hell are we talking about? "

"Cuddy, I can give you false clichés about everything being alright, or I can lie and tell you that the pain will go away. But-"House felt awkward and trailed off.

"Everyone's pain is different." Cuddy finished for him.

House grinned roughly, "Gold star for Dr. Cuddy."

Cuddy groaned quietly into the phone before a silence fell, "I think my pillows need fluffing."

House stood up on weak legs, they wavered slightly before he maintained control once more, "I happened to be voted 'most likely to become a maid' in high school."

"Well get a hold of a French maid costume and get your ass over here to fluff." She ordered and hung up. She rubbed her bandages lightly on her stomach, before pulling up the covers of the hospital bed so she didn't have to see them anymore. She then placed the cell phone that she had left on the bed on the bedside table. She gingerly lowered it down, mulling over her conversation; her numbness had been broken by just a tad.

* * *

Foreman tossed the file on the table in frustration, "MRI showed nothing, CAT scan showed nothing, liver biopsy and antibody test showed nothing."

"So in effect, there's nothing wrong with the guy." Chase muttered.

"Except for the fact he just puked up blood." Cameron replied annoyed.

Wilson walked into the room, "Any news?"

All three of the fellows shook their heads; Wilson put his hands on his hips, "Any ideas?"

"This would be around the time House called us all idiots and pulled an insane diagnosis out of nowhere." Chase replied.

"But he's not here," Cameron said looking at Wilson intently.

"You shouldn't need House for every case, you're doctors as well." Wilson lectured returning Cameron's stare.

"You got an explanation for these symptoms?" Foreman asked with an eyebrow raised.

Wilson shook his head, "All I've got is cancer."

"He would have shown improvement on the chemo we tried." Cameron replied.

They all sighed together. Before Cameron spoke up, "We should call House."

"No we shouldn't," Wilson replied putting up his hands.

"Why shouldn't we?" Chase asked leaning back in his chair.

Wilson's brow furrowed in concern, he looked to Foreman for help.

"Sorry Wilson, it can't hurt to get his medical opinion."

Wilson was outnumbered and he knew it, "He may not pick up," he mumbled in a last defense.

"Why so apprehensive?" Cameron asked putting her arms on the desk; Foreman and Chase both looked interested as well.

"He's on vacation." Wilson replied feebly.

"What happened?" Cameron asked once more and Wilson gave her a helpless look, he felt himself breaking under the pressure.

* * *

"You've got to be kidding me," Cuddy stared at the doctor in frustrated amazement.

"If you want to leave the hospital, it would really be the best recommended course of action." The doctor replied. Cuddy looked up to House who was smugly smiling.

"This isn't the time for your stubborn streak to set in Cuddy," House said eyes twinkling.

Cuddy sat there open-mouthed staring at the cane the doctor was holding out for her, she took the handle and softly tugged it out of the doctor's hands. "How long do I have to use this?" She stared at the cane in disgust.

"It's a cane Cuddy, not a chastity belt." House teased.

Cuddy threw him a glare but looked at the doctor for an answer, "At least 2 days, to help you build back some strength."

Cuddy sat back in the bed with her mouth slightly open as her eyebrows knit together, thoroughly annoyed. The doctor backed out of the room quietly and House watched him go, cane linked over his arm, still maintaining the smug smirk on his face.

"Oh we're going to have so much fun," House said.

Cuddy's frown grew deeper and she whacked him with the cane, feeling her self control breaking slightly.

* * *

Foreman and Chase looked at each other awkwardly, "Cameron," Chase said warningly.

"What?" She said turning around to look at them both, "You're not curious about why we can't talk to House?"

"For about the 100th time this week, it's none of our business." Foreman said.

"We need to call House, Wilson won't let us. Seems like our business to me." She said looking at Chase for him to back her up.

"It's just not a good time Cameron," Wilson sighed.

"It's never a good time with him," Chase muttered, trying his best to appease her.

Cameron turned to look at Wilson with eyebrows raised.

"Fine, we'll call him," Wilson agreed grudgingly and took out his cell-phone. Cameron sat smugly watching Wilson dial the number with Foreman and Chase watching her, each with a slight hint of concern in their eyes.

* * *

House watched Cuddy with faint amusement; she was struggling with the cane but wouldn't dare ask for any help. She couldn't quite seem to get the hang of the rhythm, swaying back and forth and kept on bumping into him when she lost her balance, the gravel from the dirt path in the park they were in certainly didn't help her.

"Stupid cane," she mumbled in between the "sorry" she would mutter every time she would smack into him causing him to lose his own balance.

"Not as easy as it looks now is it?" House said, the smug smile never leaving his face.

"Shut-up," Cuddy mumbled her concentration on working the cane.

"I find it helps to put a little ass in each limp, gives the impression you know what you're doing." House replied.

Cuddy stared at him and aimed her cane so the next time she limped it landed on his foot.

"OW!" House exclaimed, "Don't start something you can't win," House said knocking his cane into hers which caused her to stumble lightly, but not enough to do any real damage.

"House!" She hissed.

"We should really get one of those "L"'s that people put on their cars for beginners for you, give people a slight warning." House said as she once again crashed into him.

"Dammit," she muttered, House laughed slightly.

"This is just pathetic," House said and limped behind her, putting his arms underneath hers for support. Cuddy gasped slightly at such close contact and tried to push him off.

"House, I don't need your help," she said struggling against him.

"Look every time you fall over you smack into me, I don't plan on falling on my ass today." House stated, keeping a firm hold on her and pulling her closer. Cuddy stopped struggling, liking the sudden intimacy.

"Alright then smart ass what do I do?" Cuddy asked, House put one hand over hers with the cane clasped in it, and wrapped the other arm around her waist which caused Cuddy's stomach to flip.

"You start like this," House murmured, pushing on her hand with the cane, indicating for her to move it forward. She obliged and felt her muscles and body tensing into the normal routine for limping, but House's arm around her waist held her firm, and his own body pressed against hers forced her and her muscles to move a different way. His own expert limp being passed down onto her. It wasn't just the eroticness of the situation that was causing Cuddy's heart to beat faster but the strange feeling of openness House was displaying. By showing her this, it was almost like showing her a piece of him.

"Anybody can do this," She managed to splutter out; she said pulling out of his grip lightly.

He held onto her still, "It's easy because you have somebody to show you how." He muttered in her ear.

Cuddy shivered at the low vibrations House sent coursing through her ear. "Are you blushing?" House asked teasingly, Cuddy's eyebrows rose and she pushed away from him.

"House!" She muttered annoyed and embarrassed, she limped, taking in what he had said, and made her way to the nearest bench she could find. She sat down and stared across the lake at the massive sky scrapers of the skyline of London. House limped over to her side.

"What do you say?" House asked condescendingly as he lowered himself carefully onto the bench seat beside her.

"Thank you," Cuddy muttered annoyed, she let her cane rest against the seat and brought her eyes back to House, "Who taught you how to "limp"," she said with the accompanying hand gestures.

House rose and eyebrow at her, "No-one did."

Cuddy was a little shocked, "No-one helped you?"

"I had rehab right?" House asked not looking at her.

"If I had known," Cuddy was saying when House interrupted her.

"You couldn't have."

"If I had known," Cuddy continued, "I could have helped."

"No, you couldn't have," House replied finally deciding to make eye-contact. He saw that her lips were about to form another apologetic phrase so he continued, "Everyone's pain is different."

Cuddy stared at him, unable to reply. She frowned concerned and finally understood the true meaning of what he said from that morning. She swallowed, and placed a hand on his knee. "I couldn't have done anything could I?"

"Can I do anything for you?" House asked his question but it was more of an answer than a question.

"No," She replied understanding him. He placed a hand over hers on his knee and let his thumb rub her skin over her knuckles lightly. She felt the need to speak again but as the words were forming on her mouth, House's cell-phone rang in his jacket pocket. She looked at him confused and he removed his hand from hers to pull the cell-phone out.

"It's Wilson," he murmured.


End file.
